For Teachers
 Fairy Tales
I came across mini-offices at the busy teachers’ cafe and thought that it could be useful when it came time to write our small group/individual fairy tales. It provides focus for students when writing. The menus inside help support reluctant and beginning writers. Things like story starters, a word bank, and transition words help the students write independently. Here are some of the items I included in our Fairy Tale Mini-Office.
The following items I created myself:
The following pieces of my mini-office came from outside sources:
B. What Will You Include? (Traditional Tales_Idea Cards)
I. Story Map
Some other websites that I have found helpful in designing my unit are
This site includes a unit plan for fairy tales.
This site includes ideas for a unit.
A picture books list for studying fairy tales.
A fractured fairy tale book list.
Unit on fairy tales.
In this unit, I found it useful to begin the writing with guided practice. Students’ first attempts at writing a fractured fairy tale began by creating a class version of Shrek by William Steig. Next, students created an individual one for the Princess and the Pea. These initial writing pieces were highly structured- the frame of the story was written for them and they plugged in new details.
fractured-princess-and-the-pea.doc
Next, students studied character traits used in Fairy tales with these two activities:
And based on activities I found at www.primaryresources.co.uk , I made this generic version:
Students then wrote a fractured Little Red Riding Hood in heterogeneous small groups of 3-4 students.
Fractured Little Red Riding Hood
Our unit ended with students writing individual fractured fairy tales.
