Lesson Plan Tutorial for our Fairy Tales for Fall Unit: Spooky Stories for Halloween with Baba Yaga!

Our new Lesson Plan Tutorial for our Unit: Fairy Tales for Fall: Spooky Stories for Halloween. This Lesson Plan focuses on the popular Russian folktale: Baba Yaga and the skills for Sequence of Events and Characters Developing Plot.

Lesson Plan Video Tutorial for Reader's Theater Play Script "The Empty Pot"

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! 

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Yours in Stories,

Whootie Owl

February Unit Lesson Plan Part 1: The Theme of Love & Appreciation

February: the month of LOVE and surely there are plenty of stories which cover the “traditional” love story. Our worldly stories, however, teach us so much more about love than just that.  This month we will explore six love stories, each from a different country and each with their own unique message about what it means to love and be loved in return. This week’s story is about appreciation: appreciation for what we have that money can’t buy: the true love of another.

Greyfoot: 

GREYFOOT

The story of a conceited princess of England who thought that no man was worthy of her hand. The prince of Denmark, however, is determined to change her mind. He sends many a gift, each one she destroys, literally, along with his pride, but, alas, he is determined to change her proud ways. He decides to go to the kingdom in disguise, tricks her into marriage and forces her to live a life of the common woman. Through a series of unfortunate events, she learns an important lesson about herself and what it means to truly love another through appreciation.

A story from Denmark, this European Folk Tale is a wonderful tale of appreciation of the common gifts in life that wealth cannot buy, most importantly of these, love. A common story thread, a member of royalty is forced to live a life of a commoner and learns a great deal about life and love in the process. Learning to appreciate life’s greatest gifts…values we want to instill in our students and a reminder for all of us of what is most important.

Teaching Greyfoot: Love & Appreciation

This story meets Common Core Standards for 2nd -4th grade and is a wonderful addition to a February Unit surrounding the Theme of Love and to teach the literary skills of Characterization, Sequence of Events, and Cause & Effect. This story also lends well to Compare/Contrast stories with a similar plot line and similar/different outcomes. We offer a wonderful Decision Map FREE to support teaching Characterization which will help students recognize the value of the lesson in this story surrounding love and appreciation. Extend your standard learning of the literary skills with a story that your students will sure to ponder and love. Happy LOVE Storytelling!

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

Winter Unit Lesson Plan Part 2: The Theme of (Unlikely) Friendships, Acceptance and Kindness: Inviting the Bears

Inviting the Bears

Inviting the Bears:

A story of unlikely friendships, acceptance and love, a lonely old man ponders if he should start a new life somewhere else. After deciding that a move wouldn’t change his predicament, he goes into the forest seeking answers. What he finds are grizzly bears who he decides might just be the answers to his prayers. Although they speak a different language and are usually considered fierce enemies, he decides to invite them to a feast. What he learns from them is truly the lesson of a lifetime.

A story from the United States (Alaska to be exact!), this Native American Folk Tale is a wonderful tale on finding friendships in the unlikeliest places, accepting those that are different (and who may be more alike than we believe) and kindness to others, even if it is out of our comfort zone. This story is perfect for readers on all levels, is short and engaging and speaks a message we want all our students to hear.

Teaching Inviting the Bears: Unlikely Friendships & The Common Thread that Binds Us All  

This story meets Common Core Standards for 1^st -3rd grade and is a wonderful addition to a Unit on Friendship, Acceptance and Kindness. This story is best used in the classroom to promote its positive messages and would be a great addition to a unit for Character Education. You could also use it in a unit on Native American studies and how they used animal tales to promote these three themes within their tribes. Extend your standard learning of the literary skills with a story that your students will sure to ponder and love. Happy Storytelling!

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.

Education World Names Stories to Grow by TOP Site for FolkTales and FolkTale Resources

Check out what they have to say about Whootie Owl & Stories to Grow by here:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/sites/sites062.shtml

Winter Unit Lesson Plan Part 1: The Theme of Cooperation & Friendship in The Long Winter

Looking for a great story to excite your students about the warmth (Spring!) returning after the cold Winter months, while also reinforcing the theme of Cooperation and Friendship? Would you also like to have some fun in your literary classroom by having the students participate in Reader’s Theater? Then we have the perfect tale for you from Canada, The Long Winter. Offered in both a story and play script version, this is sure to reinforce the importance of working together towards a common goal and excite your students that after the long cold winter months, the heat will return!  

 Cooperation & Friendship: Problem Solving 

with 

The Long Winter

The Long Winter:

A story of the missing heat and the plan to bring it back; a group of animals with varying strengths go in search of the warmth and learn the importance of working together and admiring the differences each friend brings to solve the problem.

A story from Canada, this Native American Folk Tale gives a wonderful explanation of how and why the warmth returns after the cold. We love it to be a Wintery tale, one of Cooperation and Friendship, to spark the discussion with your students on how important it is to creatively work together to achieve a common goal. This story also reinforces the theme of Friendship as many different animals work together and utilize their strengths to help each other succeed.

Teaching The Long Winter:

This story meets Common Core Standards for 1^st -3rd grade and is a wonderful addition to a Unit on Friendship, Problem Solving or Cooperation. You could further the learning with higher level thinking skills by having your students devise their own problem solving plan on how to distract the bears and create their own stories with their classmates as the Main Characters. We also offer a Teacher’s Resource Guide which includes activities on Plot, Sequence of Events, Setting, Characterization, Describing Words, Main Ideas as well as an Assessment and Games/Coloring Pages.  A Unit Plan already made for you! This story can also be Cross-Curricular with a Science Lesson on the Changing of the Seasons or on Native American studies and how they use tales to describe events in Nature. Extend your standard learning of the literary skills with a story that your students will sure to ponder and love. Happy Storytelling!

A positive message while teaching an important literary skill: this is what you will find in all the Whootie Owl Stories to Grow by Stories and accompanying Reader’s Theater scripts.