Once Upon a Time....We Studied Fairy Tales!

    For the past three weeks, second graders have been immersed in fairy tales! They've been reading them, writing them, identifying common factors, comparing and contrasting tales----all in preparation for their upcoming wax museum, which will take place on Tuesday, May 19th. 

        A HUGE part of this project has been reading tons and tons of fairy tales! Students have been read to, read independently, and have partner read numerous tales such as:

      Once they heard the traditional tales, they were excited to learn that there were often many versions of the tale, depending on the location and culture of where the story came from. We looked closely at versions of Cinderella as there are over 1,500 versions worldwide! Glass Slipper, Golden Sandal, by Paul Fleischman, is a beautiful Cinderella story that takes pieces of the tale from around the entire world and creates one fantastic story.

       This was also a great introduction to the concept of a fractured fairy tale, which takes the original tale and retells the story in a humorous way with unexpected characters, plot twists, and/or interesting points of view. Some favorite fractured tales we enjoyed were:

       Enjoying all of these great stories, led us to a huge compare/contrast project having students identify similarities and differences between the tales and then creating illustrious posters teaching others of their findings! All of these great posters will be on display during our wax museum.

Reece's poster of The Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Javelinas.

Amelia's poster of The Princess and the Pea and The Penguin and the Pea.

Taylor's poster of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Tackylocks and the Three Bears.

        Another fun project they completed, took a closer look at the many villains that pop up in fairy tales. Check out their WANTED posters, which also adorn our halls!

       For a fun science connection, the week before vacation, the Owls planted their very own "magic beans" and created their own version of the Giant's castle. Will their beans reach the castle providing Jack a way up? Only time will tell!

       Thank you to all who helped their children pick a fairy tale character and returned the pink paper to school. Our class was pleased to learn that EVERY student received their very first choice of character! At the wax museum on May 19th, the following characters will be represented:

Fairy Tale Character Assignments

Alex	The Giant (from Jack and the Beanstalk)
Amelia	Little Red Riding Hood (from Little Red Riding Hood)
Ben	Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk)
Clara	The Evil Queen (from Snow White)
Destiny	Goldilocks (from Goldilocks and the Three Bears)
Drew	Pinocchio (from Pinocchio)
Gina	The Three Billy Goats (from The Billy Goats Gruff)
Grace	First Pig (from The Three Little Pigs)
Hailey	Belle (from Beauty and the Beast)
Jacqui	Cinderella (from Cinderella)
Jonah	Shrek (from Shrek)
Kyle	Reynard the Fox (from Reynard the Fox)
Lhana	Mulan (from Mulan)
Lily	Thumbelina (from Thumbelina)
Logan	Second Pig (from The Three Little Pigs)
Pranavi	Snow White (from Snow White)
Reece	Third Dog (from The Three Little Pigs)
Ryan	The Troll (from The Billy Goats Gruff)
Taylor	The Big, Bad Wolf (from The Three Little Pigs)
Truman	The Boy (from The Boy Who Cried Wolf)

    Much more information will be sent home over the next several weeks and much of the project will be completed in class. In the meantime, students can begin gathering materials for their costume. For example, Little Red Riding Hood can have a red cape and a basket of goodies for her grandmother. Hopefully you can borrow an outfit, raid a dress up box, or piece it together from things you have at home. Let me know if you have any questions!
When we return, while continuing our work with fairy tales, we will also be looking more closely at other folk tales, such as tall tales and animal stories.