American Folklore: A Jigsaw Character Study

Lesson Plans

Student Interactives

Calendar Activities

Strategy Guides

Professional Library

 

LESSON PLANS

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Exploring World Cultures Through Folk Tales

Journey around the world with students as they read a Japanese, African, or Welsh folk tale, create a visual depiction of the tale, research the tale's culture, and present findings.

 

Grades   3 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Sequencing: A Strategy to Succeed at Reading Comprehension

Did Paul Bunyan gouge out the Grand Canyon before or after he dug the Great Lakes? Students create a life-sized timeline showing the sequence of events in this tall tale.

 

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   3 – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Compare & Contrast Map

The Compare & Contrast Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for different kinds of comparison essays.

 

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Venn Diagram

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

 

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CALENDAR ACTIVITIES

Grades   7 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  January 4

Jacob Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm, was born today.

Students compare different versions of the fairy tale Cinderella and then rewrite a lesser-known Grimm story and explain the changes they made.

 

Grades   7 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  March 6

Author Gabriel García Márquez was born on this day.

Students take place in a collaborative creative writing activity to begin to understand the hallmarks of the literary style known as magical realism.

 

Grades   3 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  February 18

In 1931, Toni Morrison was born.

After retelling a familiar fable, students discover the differences in one of Morrison's retellings of a fable.

 

Grades   3 – 8  |  Calendar Activity  |  September 26

John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775.

Students use the Timeline Tool to organize details about Chapman's life, the Venn Diagram to organize information, and the Shape Poems Interactive to create poems about apples or Johnny Appleseed.

 

Grades   7 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  August 17

Davy Crockett was born in 1786.

Students read selected excerpts from Crockett's biography and consider whether present-day politicians follow Crockett's advice.

 

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STRATEGY GUIDES

Grades   3 – 8  |  Strategy Guide

Using the Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Technique

In this strategy guide, you will learn how to organize students and texts to allow for learning that meets the diverse needs of students but keeps student groups flexible.

 

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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Grades   3 – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Book

Happily Ever After: Sharing Folk Literature With Elementary and Middle School Students

This unique text provides background about folk literature and how to use this rich genre in your classroom.

 

Grades   8 – 12  |  Professional Library  |  Journal

Using Children’s Literature to Spark Learning

Presents two brief articles--the first discusses purposes for using children's picture books in a secondary classroom, activities for children's literature, and integrating children's books into the classroom curriculum; and the second discusses using folktales in the classroom to engage reluctant readers and writers, suggests ideas/topics for folktale writing projects, lists writing prompts, and recommends folktales.

 

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