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Fairy Tale Homework KS1: Drama and Role Play Ideas for Fairy Tales



The activities allow you to delve deep into different versions of traditional tales and familiar folk stories, study picture composition and of course find out more about shoes of all kinds throughout history.


Due to their origins in oral traditions, there were many different versions of most popular fairy tales in existence. The same broad story differs from place to place and culture to culture due to an international game of Broken Telephone played across space and time.




fairy tale homework ks1



When the Grimm Brothers published hundreds of fairy tales in the 19th century, many of these once shifting tales became crystallized in the imagination. Work that the likes of Disney continue to this day.


Other archetypical characters commonly appear in these tales: courageous heroes, evil stepmothers, talking animals, child-eating witches, imposing giants, industrious elves, assorted heroes and villains, and dwarves of various dispositions.


Given that the characters in fairy tales are generally one dimensional, it should be no surprise that they are stuffed to the brim with conflict. From big bad wolves wrecking house after house to cruel stepsisters torturing and bullying a sibling into misery, the plot is key.


Remind students that their settings will have a significant impact on the mood of their stories. For example, a gloomy castle is perfect for a darker fairy tale, while a lavish palace is suited to a happier tale.


Students should remember that these are fairy tales, and they should also contain some magical elements. These supernatural elements help facilitate the action of the story, almost like another character.


Modern authors may write their own versions of popular kinds of traditional tales, such as fables and fairy tales. Also, folktales that began as ancient spoken stories may now be written down in books. For example, the stories called the Arabian Nights were told aloud long ago in many places in the Middle East and elsewhere. A variety of entertaining stories in the group tell of characters such as Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the Sailor. People began collecting and writing down these colorful tales more than 1,000 years ago.


Stories of heroes are also common in many cultures. Heroic tales help bind a people together and help them remember their history. For example, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are the heroes of many French and English legends.


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After learning about fairy tales and their common elements we learn about what a fractured fairy tale is. In order to do this, we compare the traditional story to the fractured version. I like to have my students fill out a worksheet that has my students analyze both stories closely to spot the differences. This helps them to prepare for writing their own fractured fairy tales because they are able to see how other authors fractured their own stories.


When talking about fracturing fairy tales it is important to teach point of view. As we see in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs the point of view from which the story is told helps to make it a fractured fairy tale. The third lesson in this writing unit addresses the point of view and gives your students plenty of opportunities to identify the point of view that writing pieces are written in. I also use this to address the Common Core standard for point of view in fourth grade.


The meat of this writing assignment comes here in the actual writing. When I have my students write I give many student supports for the writing process. Not all students need every brainstorming sheet to guide them through writing their fractured fairy tale, but many students find them very helpful to piece together their stories. The initial writing process took a few days of class time for my students to get their rough drafts together. Once they completed this step we moved on to another extremely important step in the writing process.


There are also many great fractured fairy tale movies for you to watch with your students if you watch videos in class. If you search on Youtube there are the classic fractured fairy tales from the Rocky & Bullwinkle show. Hoodwinked is a full-length movie about Red Riding Hood there is also a sequel available.


When students have a good grasp of the elements of a fairy tale, arrange them in groups of three. Have each student read aloud one fairy tale to his or her group. Then invite the group to use a 3-circle Venn diagram to compare and contrast the fairy tales. (Please be patient. This editable template loads slowly.) If you wish to incorporate computer skills, have students save this editable Venn diagram to a disk. They then can type in the editable areas of the document. When the diagrams are completed, have groups share their diagrams with their classmates and explain what conclusions they drew about fairy tales. Students might even write a brief paragraph or two comparing and contrasting the fairy tales they analyzed.


After students are familiar with the elements of fairy tales, read aloud The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Talk about how the story is different from the version they are familiar with. Discuss what a fractured fairy tale is, and explain to students they are going to write their own fractured fairy tales.


Before students begin the assignment, you might discuss how other fairy tales might change if told from a different point of view. Discuss some fairy tale titles and brainstorm how the tales might change. Then students have to make the following decisions:


Most kids are familiar with the fairytale stories of Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella. Usually written for children, fairy tales tell about the adventures of imaginary beings in faraway lands.


Every fairy tale has a villain, someone who has evil intentions toward the main character. This evil character wants to control or harm the main character, sometimes using magic powers to do so.


Most fairy tales include a magical ingredient. Guide your child to choose a friend, guardian, or magic element that helps the hero and adds enchantment to the story. This is a good place to include those magic numbers of three or seven.


A traditional tale is a story that has been told and re-told for many years, and consequently, becomes a story that almost everyone knows. Traditional tales are also referred to as fairy stories or fairy tales.


In Key Stage 1, a teacher would read children various traditional tales and discuss the structure in terms of beginning, middle and end. They might map out the structure on the board to make this clear to the children; for example, they might show three boxes (organised horizontally or vertically) and then write a short sentence in each to show what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story. Over time the children might progress to analysing the story structure by using a story map or a spider diagram.


Traditional tales might also be used to help children reflect on more advanced writing techniques, such as point of view (lots of fairy tales read completely differently when written from a different point of view; look at Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf) or the difference between fact and opinion.


You can help your child at home by reading traditional stories with them and encouraging them to talk about what they have read. (We also love the huge repository of free traditional audiotales on Storynory and the free audio recordings of fairy tales on LibriVox if you'd like to listen too!)


by K P Kojo (6.99, Puffin)A collection of Indian folklore stories featuring wicked magicians, wise old priests, charming princes and beautiful princesses, greedy tigers and wily jackals; these magical tales from India's Moghul period are full of adventure and trickery.


by K P Kojo (6.99, Puffin)A collection of tales gathered from the many different islands of the Caribbean. From the very first Kingfisher to Anansi the Spider Man, these lively retellings are full of humour and beautifully retold by Trish Cooke. 2ff7e9595c


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