Grade: 2

Subject: Reading and Writing

Length of Lesson: 30-40 minutes

Topic/Theme: Fairy Tales

Introduction:

I have chosen to devise a lesson plan that combines reading and guided writing. I have decided to focus on fairy tales because I think they are interesting to read and can foster creative writing. Many Grade 2 students might know the classic fairy tales such as Cinderella, but not understand the defining characteristics of fairy tales. I want my students to comprehend that a fairy tale is a narrative form while at the same time develop their writing skills. After reading various fairy tales I decided to base my reading and writing lesson on Walt Disney’s Snow White.

Purpose:

I have decided to use Walt Disney’s Snow White adapted by Liza Baker because I think it is a fairy tale that many of the children will be familiar with which will aid in their understanding of what makes it a fairy tale. I choose this book because it is easy to read and the illustrations are colorful which will captivate the student’s attention. I wanted a fairy tale that had several characters. For example Snow White has Snow White, the prince, the wicked Queen, the huntsman and the seven dwarfs (Happy, Grumpy, Doc, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful and Dopey). I want my students to be able to assume the role of one of the characters so that they can write a character journal. Character journals improve writing skills, facilitates creativity and encourage a wider range of response patterns.

Materials, Resources, Methods, Classroom procedures:

For the reading part of the lesson the children and I will be in the reading corner. I want them to be comfortable so that they can focus their attention on the fairy tale. For the lesson I would need Walt Disney’s Snow White adapted by Liza Baker and a board and markers to write the characteristics of a fairy tale on. The students would need their journals for the writing activity.

Background Knowledge:

By Grade 2 most children should be familiar with fairy tales, but they might not realize or understand their defining characteristics. This lesson will be one of the first lessons I use during the unit on fairy tales because it defines what a fairy tale is. The children will have to have some background knowledge in order to tell me some of the characteristics of fairy tales, therefore they would have to have read them prior to this lesson. The students will improve their writing skills and learn to write a fairy tale at the same time. Not much background information is expected because this is an introduction lesson to fairy tales.

Body of Lesson:

To begin the lesson I would tell the students that we are going to be reading a special type of story called a fairy tale. I would write the word fairy tale on the board and ask the children if they had ever heard of or read a fairy tale before. After they respond, I would write the defining characteristics of a fairy tale in the board and explain each one using examples.

1. The Characters are royalty. Example: Cinderella was a princess
2. They are set in castles or kingdoms. Example: Cinderella was set in a kingdom
3. They are set long ago. Example: It was a long time ago
4. They involve magical actions including animals talking and witches casting spells. Example: The pumpkin turned into a chariot, the animals talked to Cinderella when she was cleaning the house.
5. The language used. Example: “Once Upon a Time” “Happily Ever After”

Then I would lead my students to the reading corner and ask them to sit on the carpet in front of me. I would sit on a chair in front of the children and introduce Walt Disney’s Snow White. I would ask the children if they thought it was a fairy tale and why. Then I would read the book to them. I would ask the students what they thought of the book. I would ask:

1. Did you like the fairy tale?
2. Do you like all of the people in the fairy tale? Why? or why not?
3. What was your favorite part of the fairy tale?
4. Is there any part you disliked in the fairy tale?

I would send the children back to their desk and ask them to take out their journals. They would have been using their journals throughout the school year to record how they felt about reading, what interested them about stories, and any other creative writing activities. Today they would be writing a character journal based on the different characters in Snow White. I would explain to the class that each student has to take on the role of a character in the story and make entries in the journal as if they were the character. I would hand out an information sheet to guide them in writing from the characters point of view. Once the students had completed their character journals I would collect them and look over the various stories and character descriptions. In the following class I would pass back their journals and put the children in small groups to decide on the characters they want to use in a fairy tale they write together. Every lesson will focus on a different characteristic of the fairy tale. The next lesson might be on setting. Once the groups have written a fairy tale I will collect them and bind them into a book.

Closure of Lesson:

The reading section of the lesson ends when we finish the discussion of the fairy tale in the reading corner. Once I have finished reading the fairy tale it will be put in the student library for future use. If they enjoyed the fairy tale, I will read them other classics. When they leave the reading corner their reading lesson is over, and their guided writing begins. When the children finish writing their character journals the lesson is over for the day. I would teach this lesson during a unit on fairy tales so that the children can extend their character journals into larger written works.

Assessment:

The children would be graded on the writing in their journals. I would base their grade on creativity, spelling, the genre (if they wrote a fairy tale or a story) and sentence structure. Marks will not be deducted for creative spelling of words, but I will write the corrections so they know the correct spelling. The students will be graded on the creativity of their characters and stories. I will write criticism and comments in their journals to help them improve their writing techniques.