Fractured Fairy Tales - The Inside Scoop! April 6/7

Moving along with our fairy tale theme, and preparing the students to write their own fairy tales, we set the stage with a big pink castle, with an incongruous Big Bad Wolf sign on the front. The teachers and I were dressed up as reporters to get the "real story" on who was living in the castle and why, and to interview the students to see if they knew anything about the rumors going around that the Big Bad Wolf was actually "the good guy".

This format worked extremely well! We had a lot energy, and when we asked the students questions about the story, we put the (blow up) microphones up to their faces, and treated them like live witnesses at the scene - they really got into it!  

We then grabbed the book "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and treated it like a breaking update - we all gathered around our story telling area to hear the "True Story". The teachers and I once again passed the book back and forth working on great story telling techniques.

After getting the "real story" we talked about the elements of a fairy tale, and how looking at a different perspective, and changing expectation (fuzzy kitten can be evil and ugly troll can be good) can make for a fun fractured fairy tale.

The students then drew fairy tale elements from the cauldrons. They all had the same setting -the big pink castle, but then they drew two characters (they decided which was good and which was bad) , a magical object, and a problem.

And then used those elements to fill in a basic story boarding sheet:

Red = Characters

Orange=Magic Item

Purple = Problem

The students, with a bit of guidance started creating some really wild and fun stories, and most of them were very excited to share them!

 The students wanted to try the reporter coats on - so we had a lot of fun with that - I think a few old trench coats and microphones could go a long way for students to "investigate" or "report" on all kinds of things in many different subjects. 

Book Reporters, perhaps??!!  These ladies are on the job!!!

It was so much fun seeing the teachers really embrace the reporter role - I really think this was one of our most successful lessons: Simple, with clear connections, theatrical and fun without being overwhelming or intimidating - everything just fit.