It seems that during the last few days of school time just drags! Kids and teachers both can't wait to be finished with lessons and being DONE! Not so I or my kiddos! NOPE, we kept at it until the very last. In between packing the room and special events, we continued working on our very last project of the year: Writing a Cinderella Adaptation. It is perhaps the most engaging and fun of all the writing projects that we do all year! Kids get a kick outta returning to their childhood and revisiting familiar stories with their "mature" minds.
For years I've had my sixth grade Language Arts students read and analyze folk literature. It lends itself to teaching theme, characters, plot, etc. so well! So many of the traditional tales are available online and there is a plethora of folk literature novels nowadays as well; familiar stories that have been extended and adapted. Think Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Rump the True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff, or the Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordin. We used several of these titles to do one final round of Literature Circles, but we also spent considerable time looking at the most famous folk tale of all: Cinderella.
Did you know that there are more than 1500 "Cinderella" tales found all over the world? Students are astounded by this and curious as well. I've managed to accrue a collection of about 65 Cinderella picture books over the years. My students and I spend time reading them and notating their similarities to discover what constitutes a Cinderella tale?
This is just ONE of many graphic organizers that we use as we are reading, comparing/contrasting, and analyzing this literature. It's yours for the taking by clicking HERE.
From there we examine some fun adaptations.
And then we begin creating our very own Cinderella adaptations via the writing process. The stories must readily be recognized as Cinderella tales, be thoroughly original, and be picture books. Here are a few of this year's masterpieces.
And who said that fairy tales are for little kids?
What a fun way to end the year! I love how you had the students write their own Cinderella story at the end. It looks like they turned out great.
ReplyDeleteMary
Fit to be Fourth