The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mara Alperin

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

By: Mara Alperin

Illustrated By: Kate Pankhurst

Lexile Level: AD 540L

Genre: Fiction, Folklore

Bibliographic Information: Alperin, M. (2014). The Three Billy Goats Gruff. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Summary: Three billy goat brothers reach a bridge to a meadow. A slobbering, old troll blocks their path. How do you trick a troll who wants to eat you?

Selling Tool: Here is my infographic for this book.

Possible Learning Activity: Students will brainstorm different ways the goats can get to the meadow without being eaten by the troll.

Standards:

New York State Common Core:

CCSS.ELA.Literacy.RL.3.2. - Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

CCSS.ELA.Literacy.RL.3.5-Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will work in small groups to brainstorm different ways the goats can get across the bridge without being eaten by the troll.
2. Students will thinking critically and use problem solving skills to brainstorm ideas.
3. Students will share their small group ideas with the class as a whole.

Possible Learning Outcome: Students will learn how to work in a small group, or team, in order to find a solution to a problem. Students will practice critical thinking and problem solving skills.

The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo

The Korean Cinderella

By Shirley Climo

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Korean+Cinderella&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7tv-zpZTYAhULRN8KHXRwBkoQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=893#imgrc=DX9KWbLbEBTk6M:

Book Review Click Here

Lexile Level 700L

Grade 3-5

Storytelling: Finnesburg Fragment

Storytelling: Finnesburg Fragmenthttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1JN72JkuqJTR4gTEKvJnFJmhZUS7Px2xw/view?usp=sharing

            The source of my story for this assignment is the Finnesburg Fragment from the Beowulf manuscripts. The tale itself is only partially found within the manuscripts, the pages that continue the story have since been destroyed due to time and a fire within the library where they were stored at centuries ago. The authors of Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment are unknown. The most commonly accepted source is attributing Beowulf stories as oral narratives which became written down well after their creation. Within Beowulf, the Swedish-Geatish wars are described and have some historical backing on the events and characters that appeared compared to real life events that are known of the time. This places the time frame of when the story could have first been written at around the 12^th to 13^th century CE.
            The Finnesburg Fragment is often apart from the main text of the Beowulf manuscripts. The story does not take place within the setting of Beowulf and does not appear as a story that someone within that tale is telling, the Tragedy of Hildeburh is told in story within Beowulf and as such is included within its main text in translations. Within the text, the story describes an attack at night at the city of Finnesburg, or the city of Finn. Finn is the ruler of the Frisians and had married a woman named Hildeburh in order to make peace between the Frisians and the Danes. Yet this was not enough to stop the conflict outright and the Danes attacked Finnesburg. The story focuses around Hnaef, Hildeburh’s brother, who holds the hall with 50 strong warriors over the course of 5 days onslaught. During this time in history, combat was usually during the daylight hours and very short durations of a few hours at most. Having this combat supposedly last days on end is to evoke how grueling and still brave the Frisian men were in protecting their home.
            The story does not have a proper end here within the Finnesburg Fragment. The story finishes as we know it as a wounded warrior turns to his leader, Hnaef, and declares his armor and weapons are in tatters and he can no longer continue fighting. The story of Hildeburh is continued in Beowulf itself. We find out that her family was slaughtered and only she remains alive after the battle ended. She mourns the loss of her brother and her husband at funeral pyres for each. She is then taken away back to the Danes.
            This story can be used to describe epic poetry or specifically epic poetry originally in English. The great epics most known are Greek tales but Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment are something which can be more accessible to people than the myriad of monsters that The Odyssey has or the focus on war that The Iliad has. Beowulf contains those portions of a plot but within a shorter time frame. Focusing on just Finnesburg, the story is about men in a small span of time and about the conflict itself. This focused narrative keeps the audience interested as it is full of action and a lot of ‘proclaiming’ by different characters to one another. It all feels as if you are also going into battle with them. The physical material of the manuscript can be printed out and shown to patrons of the library to see how these stories were maintained over the centuries through scribes and how the language of English developed from Old English to Modern English. I have included my own translation below which is what I read from in the video. This includes the Finnesburg Fragment and the Tragedy of Hildeburh (which I did not read but felt to include to get the full story.)

Book talk: Why the sky is far away

Bibliographic Information:
Gerson, Mary-Joan, and Carla Golembe. Why the sky is far away: a Nigerian folktale. Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
Folk tale/Myth, AD670L

Intended Audience:
Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st - 2nd grade

Key passage:
"In the beginning, the sky was very close to the earth. In that time, men and women did not have to sow crops and harvest them. ... Anybody who was hungry just reached up, took a piece of the sky, and ate it."

Approach:  Scene-based. Main character is the setting, the sky. Hand motions and voices for the individual characters. Loud booming voice for the sky when it angrily talks to the humans.

Notes for Booktalk: Keep names pronounced properly, focus on stressing action words when speaking. Explain folk tale/origin myths.

The talk: Write the script of your book talk here. You can use full prose or a clear enough outline that can be easily followed by the rest of us.

"In the beginning, the sky was very close to the earth. In that time, men and women did not have to sow crops and harvest them. ... Anybody who was hungry just reached up, took a piece of the sky, and ate it."

This is the story that explains why the sky is far away, retold by Mary-Joan Gerson. It is a Nigerian folk tale that explains how certain things in our world came to be. It is an etiological myth, a story that explains how something came into existence.

This is a great book to introduce the idea of folk tales to pre-kindergarteners to 2nd grade students. Often they will ask 'why' to aspects of the world they experience. This will show them these questions have been asked throughout the ages.

Why the Sky is Far Away will introduce the children to the idea of conservation and the dangers of wastefulness in an easily understandable way. The story follows the sky and it's interaction with the human world. We switch to the character of Adese, a vain and proud woman, who ends up abusing the gift the sky had given us.

This book is also a way to introduce stories from other cultures. As a folk tale from Nigeria, the students can hear about how another culture explains how parts of the world came to be.

If you're interested in other African folk tales, I suggest How the Zebra Got His Stripes and How Giraffe became so Tall retold by Andrea Florens.

Thank you for listening to my book talk.

"We now see, as the wise [people] did then, that the future of nature and its gifts rests in our own hands."

Video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxp1ys6gy6hxR0NQX0lKdkhLMnM

How the Elephant Got His Trunk retold by Andrea Florens and Angela Sinclair

How the Elephant Got His Trunk
Retold by Andrea Florens and Angela Sinclair
AD210L

            This is an African folk tale about how the elephant got his very long trunk. The elephant used to have short, stubby noses in the beginning. But when a draught happens, and the only accessible water is from the river, the elephants dare drink from it. An alligator coms and bites the elephant on the nose and pulls with all its might to drag it into the water. The elephant’s nose grew longer and longer as it pulled until it became the trunks we know today.

Learning Activity:
The students will listen to How the Elephant Got His Trunk and be able to answer questions prompted by the teacher after the reading. If they are unable to answer a part, to go back into the text and re-read that part of the story.

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-L.RI.K.3 - With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Goal:
The student will listen to the story and be able to see how the actions of the alligator caused the elephant’s nose to get longer.
           

Objective:
Cognitive –
            The students will listen to the story and explain back to the teacher how the elephant’s trunk got so long, what happened to it to make it long, and why did the elephant not get dragged into the river by the alligator.

Outcome:
The student will be able to listen to the story and understand the sequence of events that caused the elephant to get his long trunk.

How the Zebra Got His Stripes Retold by Andrea Florens and Claire Norden

How the Zebra Got His Stripes
Retold by Andrea Florens and Claire Norden
AD210L

            An African folk tale about how the Zebra got its stripes and the animals who played a part in the event.

Learning Activity:
The students will listen to the folk tale and as the story is being read they will answer short questions about what just happened on the page. Why did the baboon hit the other animals? Where did the fire come from that burned the zebra? What did the other animals do during the fight?

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-L.RI.K.7 - With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
CCSS.ELA-L.SL.K.6 - Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Goal:
The students will be able to listen to the story and be able to answer questions about the story as it is read.

Objective:
Cognative – The student will listen to the story as it’s being read.
            They will be able to answer questions the teacher asks about what is happening in the story.
            They will point out where in the illustrations answer the questions or where in the other pages the answer takes place.

Outcome:
The students will listen to the story and answer plot points based on the illustrations and story as it’s read to them.

Selling Tool: Read Aloud
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eV6Y7t2LbDytV2Yt2

Why the Sky is Far Away Retold by Mary-Joan Gerson

Why the Sky is Far Away
Retold by Mary-Joan Gerson
AD670L

            A Nigerian folk tale about why we have to work to get our food. Once long ago, the sky was just a bit above us, anywhere we humans went we could reach up and grab a piece of the sky and it would taste like regular food. The sky could taste like fruit or meat, and everyone was able to be fed from the sky this way. But people are wasteful and take more of the sky than they need, so the sky threatens to leave us humans and float out of reach forever. When a woman disregards the sky's warning and throws out a piece of the sky she couldn't finish eating, the sky leaves and flies far, far away.

Garden State Children's Book Award -  1991

Learning Activity:
            After reading the story, ask the student questions about the character Adese and the moral of the folk tale.
            How did Adese anger the Sky?
            Why do they think she took a piece that was too much for her?
            What did everyone learn to do after the Sky flew up far away?
            How can we use nature so that we don't repeat Adese's mistake?

Learning Standards:
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.2  Recount stories, including fables and folk tales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.3  Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Goals:
The student will understand the central conflict of the folk tale, the motives for Adese and the Sky, and explain the meaning of the story.

Objective:
Cognitive –
            The student will be able to answer the question prompts using evidence from the story.
            The student will come up with 3-4 possible ways we can be less wasteful in our daily lives so we can avoid repeating Adese’s mistake.

Outcome:
The student will be able to take the message of the story into other readings and practices on environmentalism.

Selling Tool: Book talk video - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxp1ys6gy6hxR0NQX0lKdkhLMnM/view?usp=sharing

Fractured Fairy Tales, by A. J. Jacobs

Jacobs, A. J. Fractured Fairy Tales. New York: Bantam Books, 1997.
Lexile Level: Approx. 820

Selling Tool:

The selling tool for this book is "Book in a Box." Ideally, the box would be decorated with aspects of the book that is inside. In this case, I have a purple ribbon for royalty, and a dainty crocheted star to symbolize the magic of the fairy tales. The scroll clipped to the front says, "It's not like you've been told," which is a warning to the reader that these are not your typical fairy tales. The arms protruding from the sides of the box give the offbeat feel of the tales. A display of 10 of these with different books could be REALLY exciting!

Learning Activity
Target Age: Grade 5
Write your own fractured fairy tale. Choose a classic tale from the book Fractured Fairy Tales and update the story to give it your own twist. In your planning, make note of any changes to the following:
1. Characters
2. Setting
3. Plot
4. Moral
Read your fractured fairy tale aloud to the class!

Learning Standard: 
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.A
Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.Learning Goal: 
Students will write a fractured fairy tale.
Learning Outcome: 
Students will write a fractured fairy tale and in doing so will address characters, setting, plot and moral.
Learning Objective:
Students will write and read aloud their own fractured fairy tale based on a tale found in A. J. Jacobs' Fractured Fairy Tales and will address characters, setting, plot and morals using conventional English writing practices.

Extra: See more book in a bag, envelope, box, etc... ideas from this website: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/book_report_ideas.shtml 

The Ugly Duckling by Kevin Crossley-Holland (story by Hans Christian Andersen)

Click Below For a Larger View:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZMPh4chS3WVZHvTj0ZUX6vLIX3hxMCpU/view?usp=sharing