Sorry for the break last week, but we were trying to get our report cards finished. We are relieved that they are completed and have been sent home! It's hard to believe we are now in the last trimester of the year.
We have been reading fables, myths and legends for the past few weeks because our students have really hooked into this genre. This week we read A Froggy Fable by John Lechner. The kids loved it and were able to have insightful discussions. We did two story element projects with this fable. One focused on the story structure. Some students completed a story mountain independently and the other group completed one in a guided lesson. It was challenging for the independent group to decide which events were important and needed to be included on the story mountain. To help support them we gave them event markers on their mountains. We had to discuss the importance of not including too many or too few details. The other group was challenged to complete their story mountain with events that were given to them.
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| Independent Group Story Mountain |
The students then used the story mountain to decide the theme of the fable. We thought about the protagonist's thoughts, feelings and actions throughout the story. Then we thought about where in the story the character changed and learned something that we could apply to our own lives. From there, themes were discovered. Some possibilities were flexibility, appreciation, and acceptance. After writing the theme and supporting it with evidence from the text, they created a tissue paper scene that also supported the theme.
We have been talking about the themes of stories all year. To review this concept we showed them commercials from the website values.com. A colleague shared this site with us. The kids had to explain how the events in each commercial supported the various themes. It really is worth checking out because it hooked the kids in.
Next week we are going to be writing our own fables. This will be a brand new activity for us, but we found a great fable lesson plan by Jane Loretz on teacherspayteachers. We are really excited.
One more week and spring break is here! We just hope we have spring weather.
Kim and Anne
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