Traditional Tales
Definition: A traditional tale is a
narrative that has been retold and
is well known within a culture
Genres included in traditional tales:
Folktales
Myths
Legends
Fables
Modern adaptations
Subgenres include:
Modern fables
Aesop fables
Fairy tales
Humorous tales
Tall tales
Trickster tales
Pourquoi tales
My K-2 folktale lesson
First, read lots of folktales
Read them out loud all week in
preparation. Drown in them.
The more the better. They only take a
few minutes, so read another
one!
Second, do some follow up
activities:
Retelling, to notice differences compared
to the original
Rereading, in small groups, taking turns
with a narrator and character speaking
parts
Act out, with selves or with puppets
Third, find characteristics
Carefully select 2 folktales that suit your
purposes. Guide the children to discover these
similarities:
• The main characters are animals
• The text contains a lot of dialog
• The story revolves around a problem- the
weaker animal tricks the stronger animal to
solve his problem
Fourth, brainstorm
Make class list of possible animal characters
Have partners work together to choose 2
animals that could reasonably share a story
Have partners help each other think of
problems their smaller or weaker character
could have, along with possible solutions
Fifth, generate a story map
See accompanying graphic organizer
Story Map
Main characters:
Setting:
Problem:
Solution:
Sixth, use story map to write a
folktale!
• Teach dialog. I do For discussion:
this using “talk • How do you teach
bubbles.” I expose dialog?
the students to • When are students
proper punctuation, supposed to master
but I do not expect dialog?
mastery. • Do your students
What’s
dialog? master dialog?