Mixed Up Fairy Tales
Students will be able to create and act out an original fairy tale.
Introduction (15 minutes)
- Distribute copies of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, Frog Prince, and Princess and the Pea printouts. Every student should get at least one printout.
- Give students about 10 minutes to read through the stories.
- Explain that all the stories they read are fairy tales, which are famous stories that usually include imaginary creatures and magical events.
- Tell the students that they're going to put their creativity to the test today with fairy tales.
- Explain that they'll be getting into groups of four, blindly selecting only five of the 15 puppets, and creating a script from only those selected puppets.
- After they create their scripts, they will need to rehearse. They will perform their scripts in front of the class once they finish rehearsing.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling (20 minutes)
- Organize students into groups of four.
- Have each group pick out five puppets for their play. Flip them over so the can't see of have them in a container so that they can't tell.
- Have them bring out materials to start working on the script. You may want to give them a page limit for their scripts.
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling (10 minutes)
- Walk around the room to ensure that they students are staying on ask.
- Answer any questions, and help redirect groups who need a little extra focus.
Independent Working Time (120 minutes)
- Give the class between an hour and an hour and a half to complete their scripts and another 30-45 minutes to print scripts out and rehearse.
- Enrichment: Advanced students should be encouraged to use more complex language in their scripts. Have them do their best to have different characters' dialogues be in different tones as well.
- Support: Visit groups that are struggling and give them settings for their stories. These settings can help them figure out how their characters should act.
Laptops may be used by students to write their scripts.
Assessment (60 minutes)
- Take notes as you watch students' performances. Pay attention to which students seem most engaged, as well as which students seem confused or uncooperative.
Review and Closing (15 minutes)
- Have students share hat they enjoyed about the activity and what they thought was the hardest thing about it.
- Refer to your notes to give students verbal feedback on their performances.