Activities
for
The Truth About
Princesses
By Nancy Kelly Allen
Read
and discuss The Truth About Princesses.
In the fairy tale world, anything can happen. Fairy tales take us back in time and to places we could never visit if we didn’t open a book. Using a wand is a good way to keep the attention of the students. Tap each child or hold the wand over the child you call on to answer.
Ask
the following open-ended questions:
1.
What is a
fairy tale? –Make a chart listing fairy tale story elements, such as happened
long ago, magic, number 3, prince, princess, castle, evil person, good person,
happy endings, stark contrast between good and evil, forest, etc.
2.
Which
character was your favorite? Why?
3.
What
passage in the story did you like the most?
Why?
4.
What is
your favorite fairy tale? Why is that story your favorite?
5.
Ask
“What if” questions:
What if you were a princess or
a prince—how would you use your fame and fortune?
What if you had the magical
power to change one thing—what change would you make?
6.
Discuss
the characteristics that make a hero.
7.
Discuss
what is real and what is make-believe.
8.
Why is it
important to be nice to others?
9.
What are
some of the feelings and emotions of fairy tale characters that are the same as
ours?
10.
What fairy tale character would you like to be? Explain why?
Ø
Using the
story elements of a fairy tale, students will write and illustrate original
stories.
Ø
Imagine
what would have happened to Cinderella if her step-mother and step-sisters had
been good to her? Would her fairy god-mother have helped her? Would she have met
the prince? Write a new version of Cinderella based on these changes. Draw
illustrations to help tell the story.
Ø
Imagine
Cindi Ella as a modern girl. Her family has lots of problems and they discuss
those problems on a television talk show. Write five questions to ask
different members of the family. Write answers to the questions. Students will
act out the scene.
Ø
Write a newspaper
article based on a favorite fairy tale.
Ø
Write riddles
based on fairy tales and ask classmate the riddles.
Example:
I’m
spinning gold, who am I?
I
ate a poison apple, who am I?
I
wear my hair in a long braid, who am I?
Ø
Create an
imaginary character that possesses a magical power. Write a story about
the character.
Ø
Read different versions of Cinderella and make a chart listing the story
elements that are alike and different.
Ø
Write an acrostic
poem using a character from a fairy tale. Begin each line with a letter from
the character’s name. Illustrate the poem.
Example:
S
N
O
W
W
H
I
T
E
Ø
Write a diary
from the point of view of a fairy tale character. Write an entry for five
days or more.
Ø
Drama:
Students will dress up as their favorite fairy tale character as they present
their writing.
Ø
Students
will dramatize their favorite fairy tale by retelling story with a
beginning, middle, and end.
Ø
Map:
Locate places in the world where castles are located. Discuss where students
think the setting of a fairy tale may have happened, such as Germany, France,
and China. Locate the different countries on the map.
Core Content
RD-04-2.0.7
Children
will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read.
RD-04-3.0.1
Children
will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage.
RD-04-4.0.1
Children will connect
information from a passage to children’ lives (text-to-self), real world
issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel, short story,
song, film, website, etc.).
RD-04-5.0.2
Children will identify
literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative language (
similes, metaphors, and personification).
WR-04-1.1.2
In
Personal Expressive Writing,
·
Children
will communicate the significance of the writer’s life experience by narrating
about life events or relationships.
·
Children
will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g., personal narrative,
personal memoir).
·
Children
will create a point of view.
Children will sustain a suitable tone
or appropriate voice.
WR-04-1.1.2
In
Literary Writing,
·
Children
will communicate to an audience about the human condition by painting a picture,
recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a moment, evoking an image, or
showing an extraordinary perception of the ordinary.
·
Children
will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g., short story, play/script,
poem).
·
Children
will create a point of view.
·
Children
will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice.
Children will apply a fictional
perspective in literary writing when appropriate.
MA-EP-1.3.1
Children will analyze real-world
problems to identify the appropriate mathematical operations, and will apply
operations to solve real-world problems with the following constraints:
·
add and subtract whole numbers with three digits or less;
·
multiply whole numbers of 10 or less;
·
add and subtract fractions with like denominators less than
or equal to four and
·
add and subtract decimals related to money.
MA-04-4.1.1
Children will analyze and make
inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts, tally tables,
pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs, line plots, Venn diagrams).
MA-EP-4.1.1
Children will analyze and make
inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts, tally tables,
pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs with two or three sectors, line plots,
two-circle Venn diagrams).
MA-EP-4.1.2
Children will collect data.
MA-EP-4.1.3
Children
will organize and display data.
SS-EP-5.1.1
Students
will use a variety of primary and secondary sources (e.g., artifacts, diaries,
timelines) to interpret the past.
AH-05-4.3.2
Children
will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning,
middle, and end. (Literary elements)