Unit Overview

Content Area:  Language Arts Literacy                       
Unit Title:  The Cinderella Stories       
Target Course/Grade Level:  Self-Contained/6th grade
Inclusion/5th grade
Name:  Melissa Ingram                                   
Stefanie Spak
School:  Pennsauken Intermediate School                              
Date:    2011                           

Unit Summary
This unit introduces students to the genre of fairy tales. Students compare/contrast different versions of the Cinderella story. Students focus on identifying character traits and discussing the meaning of good character.

Primary interdisciplinary connections
Technology, Media Literacy, Art, Social Studies

21st century themes
Global Awareness
Civic Literacy

Unit Rationale
The purpose is to recognize fairy tales/legends as literature genre and to identify positive and negative character traits.

Learning Targets

Standards

• Standard RL.9

Compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

• Standard W.3.a-e

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

• Standard SL.5

Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Unit Essential Questions

• What is good character?
• Why are the lessons in fairy tales found in stories from all different cultures?

Unit Enduring Understandings

• Students will explore and understand the positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella.

Unit Learning Targets

• Students will recall the story elements of the Cinderella story.
• Students will listen to versions of Cinderella (book and video).
• Students will discuss the universal themes and traits of fairy tales.
• Students will recall and make inferences about story events.
• Students will compare and contrast Cinderella stories from different cultures (Africa & China).
• Students will compare and contrast character traits.
• Students will describe and compare character traits of the main characters.
• Students will review characteristics of fairy tales/legends.
• Students will role-play a scene from one of the stories studied.
• Students will write an original fairy tale.

Evidence of Learning

Summative Assessment (X days)

• Original, published fairy tale
• Role-play video

Equipment needed

• Smart Board
• Document Camera
• Flip video Camera
• Picture books of Cinderella
• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (African version)
• Yeh-Shen (Chinese version)
• Cinderella movie
• Large construction paper
• Markers, crayons, etc.

Teacher Resources

• KWL chart
• Compare/Contrast venn diagram
• Map/globe

Formative Assessments

• Smart board activities
• Teacher-made worksheets/assignments
• Continual observation

• Discussions and participation (responding to questions/asking questions)
• Interact with other students during various activities/lessons

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1
Cinderella version 1 & movie   one 45 minute class period + time to watch the movie

Lesson 2
Cinderella version 2           one 45 minute class period

Lesson 3
An African Tale                 one 45 minute class period

Lesson 4
A Chinese Legend             one 45 minute class period

Lesson 5
Role-play & Original fairy tale             three 45 minute class periods

Teacher Notes
Accommodations and modifications will be made for students with IEP’s.

Curriculum Development Resources

Lesson Plan 1
Content Area: Language Arts Literacy
Grade: Self-Contained/6th
Inclusion/5th grade

Lesson Title: Cinderella
Timeframe:  45 minute class periods over approximately 8-10 days

Lesson Components

21st Century Themes
Civic Literacy
Global Awareness

21st Century Skills
Creativity & Innovation
Media Literacy
Communication & Elaboration
Life & Career Skills

Goals/Objectives/CPIs
Students will complete the following objectives with a minimum of 80% accuracy.

• Students will recall the story elements of the Cinderella story.
• Students will listen to versions of Cinderella (book and video).
• Students will discuss the universal themes and traits of fairy tales.
• Students will compare and contrast Cinderella stories.
• Students will compare and contrast character traits.
• Students will describe and compare character traits of the main characters.
• Students will compare and contrast the three Cinderella books using three way venn diagram.
• Students will review characteristics of fairy tales/legends.
• Students will role-play a scene from one of the stories studied.
• Students will write an original fairy tale.

Learning Activities/Instructional Strategies
Daily Lesson Plans (approximately 8-10 days)
Lesson 1 (approx. 2 days) Cinderella & Movie
Day One : approx. 45 minutes

• Open lesson by introducing the characteristics of fairy tales as a genre.  Ask the students to come up with a list of characteristics of fairy tales; examples: magic, animals can talk, happy ending, “once upon a time,” etc.  (This can be done on smartboard or chart paper to refer back to later).
• Students will explore positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella.
• Discuss essential question: What is good character?
• Tell the class that Cinderella is a fairy tale.  A fairy tale is a type of story (genre) that involves magic and good and evil characters.  To check for prior knowledge, start a KWL about fairy tales on the smartboard & students can continue and  complete on chart paper in small groups.
• Create a list with the students on the smartboard of words that describe Cinderella.  Save this list to look at with other fairy tales.
• Read aloud a book version of the Cinderella story. (The Native American and African versions will be used in the following lessons.)
• Hold a discussion about the difference between good and evil characters.  Define terms selfish and selfless.  Brainstorm and discuss other vocabulary related to the character traits (enchantress, spells, magical, evil, villain, greedy, foolishness, laziness, gentle, kind, hard-working, patient, honest, brave, helpful, humble).
• Discuss why Cinderella continued to be kind when the step sisters and mother were unkind. Who was acting for the common good in the story and who was acting for selfish reasons?
• Students will fold a piece of large construction paper in half and draw two characters: one evil and one good.  The drawings should reflect the characters and include labels from the brainstormed list.

Day Two: allow time to watch movie

• Show the video of Cinderella to the class.  Ask students as they view the video to watch for the story elements of character, setting, problem, events, solution and ending.  Tell them that after the movie you will be asking them to name these.

• Have students illustrate and label the story elements on a large piece of construction paper (characters, setting, problem, events, solution and ending).  Students may work in small groups.
• Using the story elements as a reference, the students retell the story of Cinderella.  This may be done as a whole class or in small groups.

Lesson 2 (1 day approx. 45 minutes) Cinderella continued

• Read aloud a second version of the Cinderella story.  Ask the students to compare and contrast the two versions using a Venn diagram.
• Ask the students to describe Cinderella’s family.  Does Cinderella get from her family the things she needs?  What are the most important things about families?
• Discuss Cinderella’s feelings throughout the story and in response to different issues.  Encourage the students to respond to each other as they discuss and compare her feelings.  For example, ask the students how they think Cinderella felt about having only her ragged clothes to wear.

Lesson 3 (1 day approx. 45 minutes) An African Tale

• Ask students to discuss the "universal theme" of kindness & hard work and how it always wins over unkindness & laziness.  Ask the students why this would be a theme in stories around the world.
• Show the students Africa on a map/globe.

• Read Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters aloud to the class.
• Discuss the story.  Compare and contrast the characters.  Compare and contrast the story with Cinderella.  
• Discuss the essential question: Why are the lessons in fairy tales found in stories from all different cultures?

• Ask each child to list three character traits of both Nyasha and Manyara.  Students should identify whether these are positive or negative traits and why. (Students may label the two characters using words from the brainstorming above).
• Discuss the fairy tale traits (from Lesson One) in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.  Look at the list of Fairy Tale Traits and identify which traits are found in this story.  For example: What events were magic and which could really happen?  Did good win over evil?  What is the lesson/moral of the story?, etc.
• Students will draw a picture of the little snake in Nyasha’s garden.  Ask students to reflect on what character in Cinderella is like the little snake.  Discuss.
• Open-ended writing or discussion topic: Why didn’t Nyasha tell her father, Mufaro, about the way her sister treated her?

Lesson 4 (1 day approx. 45 minutes) A Chinese Legend

• Read Yeh-Shen to the class.
• Ask the students to describe the main characters.  Make a list on the board of the good and bad qualities of each character.
• Compare & contrast the setting of this story with the Cinderella stories read over the past few days.
• Discuss the fairy tale traits (from Lesson One) in Yeh-Shen.  Look at the list of Fairy Tale Traits and identify which traits are found in this story.  For example: What events were magic and which could really happen?  Did good win over evil?  What is the lesson/moral of the story?, etc.
• Compare & contrast the three books using a three-circle Venn diagram (Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, Yeh-Shen, and one version of Cinderella).  Start as a whole class on smartboard and students will continue & complete on chart paper in small groups.
• Discuss the essential question again: Why are the lessons in fairy tales found in stories from all different cultures?

Lesson 5 (approx. 4 days) Role-Play & Write your own fairy tale
Day One (approx. 45 minutes)

• Divide students into small groups of four or five.  They will role-play a scene from one of the three versions of the story they have heard.  The scene does not have to be exact but it should involve the characters demonstrating a positive or negative character trait.  Each group will take turns performing for the class, after which they will ask the class to identify what trait was portrayed, was it positive or negative, and why.

Day Two (approx. 45 minutes)

• Students demonstrate what they have learned about fairy tales by writing original fairy tales.  The stories should have good and evil characters and a lesson, or moral. The students may choose to start with a story map for Cinderella and create a new setting and characters.

• Brainstorm possible characters, settings, problems, solutions and themes.
• Provide prewriting time for students to think about their stories and develop a story map and outline.

Day Three (approx. 45 minutes)

• Students will write a rough draft and revise and edit the story.

Day Four (approx. 45 minutes)

• Students will publish the writing in a final version and add illustrations and a cover.

Formative Assessment Tasks
5 formative assessment tasks

• Smart board activities
• Teacher-made worksheets/assignments
• Continual observation

• Discussions and participation (responding to questions/asking questions)
• Interact with other students during various activities/lessons

Universal Design for Learning Options

Multiple Means of Representation
How do you present it to the class?

• Perception  (Wordle: A toy for generating word clouds from text that you provide.  This reinforces key vocabulary words and literary devices. 
• Comprehension  (Tumble Books Library: Digital books that read themselves aloud in English and Spanish.  This promotes cross linguistic understanding.)
• Language and Symbols  (Voki: A text to speech generator that allows the students to create a personal speaking avatar.  Avatars are created for the students by the students, and are used to read text and present visual information.)

Multiple Means of Action and Expression
How do the kids “learn”?

• Physical Activity  (Arts Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement:  This program uses dance, music, and visual arts to teach skills in reading and writing.) 
• Executive functions: (Interactives: Elements of a Story: This website breaks down the important elements of a story. This helps students identify the components of storytelling

Multiple Means of Engagement
How did you get the students interested and how did they sustain interest?

• Recruiting interest (Watch Know: A free online video library with links to thousands of videos in all subjects. Presenting ideas through videos are another way to present information in an interesting manner.)
• Self-regulation: (Word Auto Summarize Tool: The Auto summarize feature in MS Word allows students to summarize a document and add visual information. This is a great way to highlight critical information.)

Resources

• www.udlcenter.org/implementation/examples
• DVD-Walt Disney Pictures. Cinderella (Animated version)
• Cinderella/ illustrated by K.Y. Craft.  New York : SeaStar Books, 2000.
• Cinderella / by Charles Perrault ; retold by Amy Ehrlich ; pictures by Susan Jeffers.  New York : Dial Books for Young Readers, 1990,c1985.
• Mufaro's beautiful daughters : an African tale / John Steptoe. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, c1987.