Drake

University 1
4/25/2012

Writing Unit Plan: Fractured Fairy Tales

Purpose:
By the end of this writing unit, students will be able to write a fractured fairy
tale of their choosing. Students will create a draft, edit and revise that draft
and publish their final fractured fairy tale.

Students will meet these standards:
Iowa Common Core: W.5.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear
event sequences. (whole unit)

Continuum of Literacy, Grade 5, Page 106: Use the terms tall tale, fairy tale,
fable, or legend to describe the genre. (day 2)

Continuum of Literacy, Grade 5, Page 106: Understand that the elements of
fiction, including setting, problem, characters, and problem resolution. (day 3
and 4)

Continuum of Literacy, Grade 5, Page 106: Understand fiction as a short story
about an event in the life of the main character. (day 4 and 5)

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Books





Traditional Fairy Tales:

The Egyptian Cinderella written by Shirley Climo and illustrated by Ruth
Heller
Mufaros Beautiful Daughters written and illustrated by John Steptoe,
Cinderella Retold and Illustrated by K.Y. Kraft.

The Frog Prince written by Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrated by Anne Yvonne
Gilbert
Goldilocks and the Three Bears written by Jim Ayelsworth and illustrated by
Barbara McClintock

I selected these fairy tales because they were written like traditional fairy tales are.
They are told from an outside view and contain detailed descriptions without a
strong sense of voice. The illustrations are also very beautiful and what most people
would think of as traditional.

Fractured Fairy Tales:

CinderEdna written by Ellen Jackson and illustrated by Kevin OMalley
Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying!; The Story of Cinderella as Told by the
Wicked Stepmother written by Trisha Sue Speed Shaskan and illustrated by
Gerald Guerlais

Goldie and the Three Bears written and illustrated by Diane Stanley
The Frog Prince Continued written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Steve
Johnson

I picked these fractured fairy tales because they have a strong sense of voice and are
based off of popular fairy tales. These books are kid-friendly art that matches the
story the book is telling. I think these books embody the spirit of fractured fairy
tales because you can understand and see all four necessary parts of a successful
story.

Tall Tale:

Paul Bunyan written and illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Pecos Bill written and illustrated by Steven Kellogg

I picked these tall tales because they are well known tall tales that explain some part
of our lives here in America. It is important for students to understand why tall tales

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are so unbelievable and along with the stories being far fetched, the illustrations are
too.
Legends:

How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend written by Jerrie Oughton
and illustrated by Lisa Desimini
Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest written and
illustrated by Gerald McDermott

These legends are beautiful stories that explain with some realism why something is
the way it is. These books are a collection of culturally diverse texts that logically
explain why something is that way.

Fable:

Fables (collection of fables) written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel

These fables are told in a way that makes sense to children and they are short and
sweet. That is what a fable is so it is appropriate that the book is set up like this. The
illustrations are also matched perfectly with the story.

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Day 1: Exploring traditional fairy tales.

Abbreviated Lesson Plan:

-Introduce traditional fairy tales.

-Engaging quick write about putting yourself in a fairy tale and who would be the
best character to be in that story.

These stories are the base that we are going to work off of. We plan on writing
pieces that somewhat resemble these stories. I want you to listen for two things in
these books. 1) Listen for the voice of the person telling the story and 2) which
Cinderella creates the best picture in your mind?
Have these Keep-in-minds written somewhere around the room so students can
reference them as they listen to the story.

-Read the books The Egyptian Cinderella, Mufaros Beautiful Daughters and
Cinderella.

-Have students talk about the two points after a couple minutes of reflection on the
stories.

-Take out the big poster paper and create one column titled traditional fairy tales.
Write aspects of traditional fairy tales on this paper in this column, keep the poster
up for the duration of the unit.

-Have students individually create a list of fairy tales they like and use one word to
describe the overall feeling of the story using only one word.

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Day 2: Exploring tall tales and fables. Discussing: what are a tall tales and fairy tales?
(This lesson can be done with Tall Tales, Fables or Legends. The standard from the
CLL (Page 106, Use the terms tall tale, fairy tale, fable, or legend to describe the
genre) includes all of these genres but there simply isnt time in a unit this short. If
you want to cover all genres, this unit can be extended)

Abbreviated Lesson Plan:

Tall tales are defined in the dictionary as An exaggerated, unreliable story. Lets
come up with a student friendly definition.

-Have students help you create a student friendly definition of the phrase tall tales.
This definition should use many words and should be as descriptive as possible.
Example: Tall tales are stories that didnt ever happen. Tall tales are usually
used when someone is trying to make something sound cooler than it is. Sometimes,
tall tales are used to explain events in history or natural occurrences.

-Read a tall tale: Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill.

As I read this tall tale, I want you to think of two things: 1) What is so unbelievable
about this story? What is this story trying to explain?
Have these Keep-in-minds written somewhere around the room so students can
reference them as they listen to the story.

-On the poster that you started on Day 1, create a column next to Traditional fairy
tales and write Tall tales. In this column on this poster paper, write down the
aspects of a tall tale that the students will help you create.
What are some important things to remember about Tall Tales? What makes them
different from Traditional Fairy Tales?

-Have students write about which kind of story the think they like better. Do you
like traditional fairy tales or a tall tales better? Why? What makes you like that one
more?

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Day 3: Exploring fractured fairy tales.

Yesterday we talked about Tall Tales and the day before that we talked about
Traditional Fairy Tales. Both of these types of story are used for entertainment.

-Have students do a quick write on this topic: If you had to be a villain in a story
who would it be? Why?

We are going to dive into a completely different kind of storytelling called fractured
fairy tales. These stories are based on traditional fairy tales but are twisted a bit.
Lets look at some examples!

-Read the book Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Goldie and the Three Bears. Talk
about how Goldie and the Three Bears is different from Goldilocks and the Three
Bears.

Why is Goldie and the Three Bears a fractured fairy tale? Is it told like traditional
fairy tales? Who is telling the story? Why are they telling it the way that they are?

-On the chart that was created days ago and has traditional fairy tales and tall
tales on it. Create a third and final column on the sheet of paper and title it
Fractured Fairy Tales.

-Have students discuss in whole group what the characteristics of fractured fairy
tales are.

-Read The Frog Prince and The Frog Prince Continued and talk about how The Frog
Prince Continued was fractured from The Frog Prince.

Why is The Frog Prince Continued a fractured fairy tale? Is it told like the
traditional version of The Frog Prince? Who is telling the story? Why are they telling
it the way they are?

Please find your admit slip, you are going to add to it. You wrote about a villain in a
particular story youd be, right? Now think of the person in the story you chose who
is the protagonist or the good guy. Write 6 describing words about the protagonist
from your perspective as the villain in this story.

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Day 4: Brainstorming and drafting individual fractured fairy tales

Extended Lesson Plan:

Objective: Students will be able to create a rough draft of their fractured fairy tale
using setting, problem, characters, and problem resolution (CLL Page 106:
Understand that the elements of fiction, including setting, problem, characters, and
problem resolution.)

Introduction-

Over the past few days weve been talking about different types of stories. This
doesnt mean we are only going to read the different kinds of stories, but we are
going to tell our own! Each of you will be the author of a fractured fairy tale.

Resources:
Poster paper (so everyone can see)
Markers

Focus Lesson (modeling):

So how do get started you ask? Ah, Ill show you.

As good writers, we know that we dont just start writing a story without first
thinking about the important parts. We know that there are two main types of
writing; fiction and non-fiction. The fractured fairy tales fall under what category?
(Have whole class shout out the answer- Fiction!).

In a fiction story there are 4 main elements that we must include and pay close
attention to.

Take out a sheet of poster paper (this poster paper will be used for all for elements
so plan accordingly) and use marker to write:

Write- Setting. We always want to establish setting. Why would we want to
establish a setting? Have large group discussion on why setting is important. Add to
the poster paper the ideas that you think of with the class about why establishing
setting is important.

Write- Problem. In both the traditional fairy tales and the fractured fairy tales we
read, we saw that there was some sort of problem, correct? Lets spend some time
talking about that. Turn to your partner (previously established) and take turn
talking about the four books we read yesterday: The Frog Prince, The Frog Prince

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Continued, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Goldie and the Three Bears. You
should be talking about the problems that were presented in each of the books.

-Have a group discussion about the ideas students came up with while talking to
their partner.

Very good everyone, lets move on to the 4th element of a good fiction piece.

Write- Characters In all of the stories we have read throughout our unit, there
have been characters in them all, right? What would these fiction stories be without
characters? Talk to your partner (previously established) and talk about the
characters that stood out to you the most in all of the fair tales/tall tales weve read
so far.
Give students approx. 3 minutes to talk with partner.
What did you come up with? What makes a character good? (answers could
include; strong personality, one special thing about them, a strong feeling they have,
etc.)

The last element of fiction writing is problem resolution. The story should come to
some conclusion.

I am now going to model my own fractured fairy tale for you. My story is going to
be based off of the traditional fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. I decided to use this
fairy tale because it is a well-known story and I think it could be really fun. Am I
going to decide who I want to be in this book, because every fiction story needs a
main character and the rest of the story will describe a main event in my characters
life.


Guided Practice:


I think that a strong character in Little Red Riding Hood is the wolf. No one really
hears his side of t he story. Im sure he had a reason for tricking Little Red and
eating her grandma! Does anyone have any other suggestions for the main character
in my fractured fairy tale?

Write ideas down on the board so students can see.

Now I have to think of my setting. Well, I think that I want the character of the wolf
to surprise the reader so Im going to have the wolf live in a cute, small and dainty
cottage in the forest. Most of the story takes place in the forest anyways, so that
makes sense. What do you think I should add?

Write ideas down on the board so students can see.

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Now comes the tricky part. I have to think of the problem in my story. I think Im
going to say that the wolf simply was trying to be friends with Little Red and Little
Red took it all wrong and the wolf was blamed for all of Little Reds silly mistakes.






I have created a graphic organizer that will help you with creating a story. The
graphic organizer will be filled with your ideas for your own fractured fairy tale.
These will include descriptive words about each box on the organizer as well a
brainstorm list of what you want your story to be about. This will be done on the
back of the graphic organizer and can bet written as a bullet pointed list.
-Graphic organizer is attached as Appendix D-

After you finish the graphic organizer I would like you to start writing! This is just a
draft which means you can try any cool writing style you want because we are going
to edit our papers.

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Day 5: Editing, Revising and Illustrating fractured fairy tales


Abbreviated Lesson Plan:

Collaborative Practice:

Today you should have your rough draft written and if you havent gotten that far
you should at least have it outlined.

-Today students will share with a partner their rough draft or outline. The partner is
responsible for giving one piece of positive feedback and one piece of constructive
criticism and filling out Appendix A, a checklist.

-Students will edit their writing and show it to another partner. This partner will
also be responsible for giving one piece of positive feedback and one piece of
constructive criticism and filling out Appendix A, a checklist.-

-Students will revise their work after the second partner-editing session and will the
create rough drafts of their illustrations.-

-We will stop here today because editing can be stressful for some students and can
hurt peoples feelings. Its always better to look at things with fresh eyes the next
day.-

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Day 6: Final edits of the fairy tale and create the final piece.

Abbreviated Lesson Plan:

Independent Practice:

-Students will finalize their editing process and will create a finished product. The
teacher needs to meet with each student at least once during the unit to see what
the student needs help with.-

-Students will handwrite each page so that the words are easy to read and the
illustrations match the text on the page.-

-The final draft will be turned in to the teacher and will be laminated and put in or
classroom book of fractured fairy tales. The rough draft needs to be included with
the final draft.-

-After the teacher grades the stories they will be assembled together in a big binder
to stay in the classroom. This will be our classroom book of fractured fairy tales.-

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Differentiation:

-For students who need extra support, questions can be answered by the teacher. A
Writing Frame can be given to these students as well. Students can fill out extra
graphic organizers as they progress throughout the unit to help structure their
fractured fairy tale.

For students who need extra challenge, they can write a fractured fairy tale from
two different points of view. These students can extend their writing, make deeper
connections and can create more complicated dialogue.

Students needs will be met, as they are struggling/succeeding past their limits.













Resources:

Ioea Common Core- http://educateiowa.gov/

Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G. (2007). The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades 3-8.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Heartland AEA- http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/curriculum/6_traits/home.html

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Appendix A

Feedback Checklist

Name of Partner: _______________________________________



_____ Strong sense of voice

Date:_________________

_____ Main character is present in the story

_____ There is a main problem
_____ The main problem is resolved by the end of the story
_____ Writing includes descriptive language
_____ Conventions of spelling and grammar are corrected as far as you know

My positive feedback is:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

My constructive criticism is:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Appendix B

Scoring Checklist

Name of student: ______________________________

_____ Strong sense of voice

_____ Main character is present in the story
_____ There is a main problem
_____ The main problem is resolved by the end of the story
_____ Writing includes descriptive language
_____ Conventions of spelling and grammar are fairly correct (80%)
_____ Student received one of two peer feedback forms
_____ Student received two of two peer feedback forms
_____ There is a rough draft attached to the final draft
_____ There are illustration on every page that match the story

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Appendix C

Student Reflection Writing Frame

I fractured the story ______________________________________________________________________.
I chose this story because __________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
When I wrote my first draft I really liked
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
but after I received feedback I changed it to ______________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
I feel _________________________ about making this change because _________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Extra comments:
Did you enjoy this unit?
What would you change about the way I taught this unit?
How well do you think you did?
What could you have done better?

Problem Resolution

Setting

Traditional Fairy Tale:

Appendix D

Problem

Character

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