Who doesn't love a good fairy tale unit? Well to start some of my 2nd grade boys moan and complain every time they hear our unit is starting. However, by the end of the unit they are in love!! I explain over and over again that fairy tales can be packed with adventure, gross things and magical creatures that would make Voldemort cringe. This is especially true when it comes to writing our own fairy tales. The key is to get the child to dig deep into the story structure and elaborate on everything. That's a lot easier said than done, right? Not really, in order to make these fairy tales happen I take it slow with my students. The first day we read a fairy tale and only look at character analysis. Then the students create their main character. That's not too daunting. The second day we read another fairy tale and make our setting analysis. On the third day we take a look at our story's lesson and plot. After all of the hard work is done bit by bit, we finally dive into a writing plan and detail everything. It's so important to teach students how to plan and that with the plan writing is much more organized and fun. After the plan is done we just take the story paragraph by paragraph until we have a well elaborated B,M,M,E and just like that 10 days have passed. The sense of pride that students have when they are done is awe inspiring. Below you will see the anchor charts that I use with my students.
If you are interested in my detailed plans and outlines, I have them listed for free. Just click on the picture below.
and we lived happily ever after, THE END!
