Fairy Tales for Fall: Coming in October! Spooky Stories and New Lesson Plans!

Here's a Preview of our October Themed Stories & Lesson Plans:

Fairytales for Fall: Halloween Stories of Courage, Love, & of course, Good vs. Evil

The Goblin’s Market

A poetic tale of sisterly love and how far one sister will go to save the other. A classic Christina Rossetti piece, adapted for kids in grades 3^rd -8^th. This poem, also available as a Reader’s Theater, is perfect for Halloween: Teach Poetic Analysis alone or while putting on a fun and engaging Reader’s Theater Performance. Look for our Lesson Plan on covering such skills as Rhyme, Figurative Language, Imagery and more!  Preview the Poem Here. 

Baba Yaga 

Russian folklore tells of the scary witch, Baba Yaga. In this version, our main character, Natasha, is sent deep into the woods by her new, evil stepmother, to search out her “sister” Baba Yaga. Natasha meets many “characters” along the way who help her to escape the wrath of her evil aunt. Available as both a Short Story & Reader’s Theater Script for grades 2^nd-5^th; the Lesson Plan for this tale will focus on looking at the structure of a story, as well as a fun activity on writing the tale from various character points-of-view.

Ogre’s Feather

Would you volunteer to save your king by visiting a man-eating Ogre in a land far, far away? In this tale from Italy, a brave courtier offers to trek to the Ogre’s lair and pluck his feather to save the dying king. On the way, he meets a range of characters who each need a feather and a favor. Will the young courtier prevail? Available as both a Short Story and Reader’s Theater Script for grades 3^rd-8^th, this Lesson Plan will focus on how Characters respond to Challenges as well as how the Sequence of Events contribute to the Theme/Moral. 

A FAVORITE OF OUR PAST LESSON PLANS, THE APPLE DUMPLING AND THEME OF GIVING, IN HONOR OF JOHNNY APPLESEED. FREE SHORT STORY UNIT 9/26 ALSO!

The Apple Dumpling is a wonderful story about apples & most importantly, Giving! In honor of Johnny Appleseed's Birthday, we will be offering our APPLE DUMPLING SHORT STORY UNIT FREE ON SEPTEMBER 26TH. Download our Teacher's Resource Guide (Activities Guide) for this Story to accompany the Lesson Plan, as well as the READER'S THEATER SCRIPT & Performance Notes! HAPPY FALL, DESPITE WHAT THE WEATHER HERE IN THE NORTHEAST HAS TO SAY! 

Looking for a great story to reinforce a theme of Giving that aligns with the upcoming winter holidays, while also teaching a vital story analysis skill?  For Elementary students, we have two wonderful stories that explore the theme of Giving while also teaching plot sequence.

This week’s Giving story is The Apple Dumpling from England: 

While seeming to be motivated to trade her basket of plums for some apples so she can bake an apple dumpling for dinner that night, the main character freely offers what she can to a sequence of characters she meets along the way.  In the end, her selflessness leads the main character to a grateful owner of an apple tree, an old man who is happy to provide our main character with all the apples she wants.  A positive message while teaching an important literary skill: this is what you will find in all the Stories to Grow by Stories and accompanying Reader’s Theater scripts.

The content of this tale prompts skill-building for the Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3,2.3,3.3:

Objective: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Anticipatory Set: Draw a picture of a time when you traded something with someone else. Write two sentences about what you gave for the trade and what you received in return. Pair and Share.

Activities: Students will read the story, The Apple Dumpling 10mins. While reading, discuss each “trade”, what the old woman is giving and what she receives in return. Once finished the story, have the class create a story map of the various events that took place and how they lead the women to her next trade/plot event. What challenges did she face and how did she overcome them? After the class activity, have students use the Sequence of Events and Beginning, Middle,Ending Sheets to reinforce objective.

Closing: Have students create and write their own trade/ending of what they would have wanted from the old woman if they had apples to give her. 

NEW READER'S THEATER PLAY SCRIPT AVAILABLE!

The Fisherlad and the Mermaid's Ring Reader's Theater Play Script is now available! One of our most popular stories and an adult favorite. A classic Fairy tale from Scotland of a boy, rejected by whom he thinks is his "true love" comes to find out that his real "true love" is someone else entirely. A tale of realizing that what we think we want isn't always what we need; a wonderful love story of learning our hearts true desires. And what great tale doesn't have a mermaid in it! We know you will love this script as much as us and so will your students! Make sure they give their best Scottish accents during the Reader's Theater Round. Happy Storytelling! 

This script and over 40 others are available on our website: www.storiestogrowby.org  Be sure to check our our JUST FOR TEACHERS page for new Lesson Plans, as well as Video Tutorials exclusively for our Reader's Theater Scripts. 

NEW Lesson Plan! Theme of Honesty & Understanding Characterization

Teaching the Theme of Honesty while Understanding Characterization

with

“The Empty Pot”

Stories to Grow by

Looking for a great text on teaching the Theme of Honesty? Would you also like an incredible Folktale to help teach the importance of Characterization, both literally and figuratively, exploring how decisions both affect us positively and negatively? At the same time, would you like to build student engagement, fluency and comprehension while exposing students to multi-cultural stories from all over the world with positive moral messages? Then we have the lesson plan for you! Utilize the below lesson plan with our Reader’s Theater Script, “The Empty Pot”. It would also work nicely with the Story version as well. A positive message while teaching an important literary skill: this is what you will find in all the Stories to Grow by Stories and Reader’s Theater Scripts. This week’s themed story is The Empty Pot from China:

The Empty Pot:

A group of boys who wish to be the next in line for Emperor are given "royal seeds" to grow in six months’ time; whomever flourishes the best plant will be crowned the successor. However, what the boys don't know, is that they've been tricked to test their character! The "royal seeds" have been baked and therefore won't grow a magnificent plant. Will any of the youth be honest despite looking foolish and show up empty-handed or will they give in to their desire to be Emperor, at the cost of being dishonest, and "grow" a plant with a seed other than the one they were given? A true testament to character when such a large prize is at stake. Find out here! Read the Script or the Story.

The content of this tale prompts skill-building for the Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2, 3.2, 3.3, 4.2, 5.2:

Unit Essential Question: How has Honesty played an important role in your relationships with others?

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL LESSON PLAN!! 

The Theme of Honesty Part 2: The Empty Pot

Stay tuned for our next Lesson Plan on the Theme of Honesty with a wonderful story from China: The Empty Pot. The Lesson Plan will cover Common Core Standards for Understanding Characterization with this tale that explores the character traits of youth, specifically with being truthful, but not wanting to look foolish at the same time. A group of boys who wish to be Emperor are given "royal seeds" to grow in six months time; whomever flourishes the best plant will be crowned the successor. However, what the boys don't know, is that they've been tricked to test their character! The "royal seeds" have been baked and therefore won't grow a magnificent plant. Will any of the youth be honest despite looking foolish and show up empty-handed or will they give in to their desire to be king and "grow" a plant to try and win the contest. Read it here and look for our Lesson Plan for this tale tomorrow! 

Reader's Theater Script Lesson Plan: The Native American Cinderella

Teaching the Theme of Honesty while Comparing/Contrasting Similar Texts

with

“The Native American Cinderella”

Stories to Grow by

Looking for a great text on teaching the Theme of Honesty? Would you also like to teach Elementary students (Perfect for 2^nd-4^th) how to Compare/Contrast Similar Texts? At the same time, would you like to build student engagement, fluency and comprehension? Then we have the lesson plan for you! Utilize the below lesson plan with our Reader’s Theater Script, “A Native American Cinderella”. It would also work nicely with the Story version as well. A positive message while teaching an important literary skill: this is what you will find in all the Stories to Grow by Stories and Reader’s Theater Scripts. This week’s Honesty story is The Native American Cinderella from Canada:

The Native American Cinderella:

A unique version of a classic tale: A tale out of Canada from the Abenaki tribe: a Native American warrior with very special gifts searches for a maiden who is honest and worthy to be his bride. After a series of beautiful but deceitful maidens, he finds a maiden who is truly honest, but is she worthy? Find out here! Read the Script or the Story.

The content of this lesson plan & tale prompts skill-building for the Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. RL.2.2, 2.6,3.2, 3.3, 3.6, 4.2, 4.3, 4.9

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE LESSON PLAN! 

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Our Short Stories for Kids and (Most) Reader's Theater Scripts are FREE!

Hard to believe another summer has come and gone! Back to school means getting back to business here at Stories to Grow by and our business is having teachers and parents share our Stories and Scripts with their students, children and even enjoying them for themselves! That is why all our Stories and *most* of our Reader's Theater Scripts are now FREE. As a nonprofit organization, we are continually searching for ways to keep our content FREE for all to enjoy.  One way for us to do this is through our users generous donations. We do this through our "Community Membership" so now joining our Community Membership is strictly through personal contribution of any amount you choose. We thank you for your continued support of our organization as we navigate the best way to continue to provide you with the content you love while keeping the organization up and running. If you haven't done so yet and would like to make a contribution, please visit our Community Membership page. You will still receive special content for members only: Twelve Short Story Units with Members only Scripts, Activities Guides, Performance Notes as a Thank You as well as first sneak of our New Reader's Theater Scripts: Janet & Thomalyn and The Fisherlad & the Mermaid's Ring to be released THIS WEEK!! Thank you for your continued support and love for our Stories. Leave a lasting impression with our Positive Moral Stories.