ELA  /  1st Grade  /  Unit 2: Folktales Around the World

Folktales Around the World

Students use the text and illustrations of fables and folktales to analyze setting, characters, and key details, allowing them to connect traditional stories to their own lives.

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ELA

Unit 2

1st Grade

Unit Summary

This unit continues the yearlong exploration of what it means to be a good person in a community by pushing students to think about how the lessons and morals from traditional stories and folktales connect to their own lives and communities. The unit launches by listening to the book A Story, A Story, in which students see the power of storytelling, not only for entertainment, but also for learning valuable life lessons. Throughout the unit, students will explore lessons and morals about hard work, happiness, friendship, honesty, and humility. Through discussion and writing, students will be challenged to connect their own lives with the sometimes-abstract lessons and stories in order to build character and a strong community.

This unit builds on the foundation set in the Being a Good Friend unit. Students will continue to practice asking and answering questions about key details with partners, individually, and in discussion, although questions will require a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the text than in the previous unit. To understand the story, students will be pushed to notice a character's traits and how a character's traits influence their actions, and thus the sequence of events. In this unit students also explore the central message of a story. Being able to determine the central message of each folktale will help students answer the essential question of what we can learn from reading folktales.

In this unit, students continue to use partner, small-group and whole-group discourse to show their understanding of texts. Building on the work they did in Being a Good Friend, this unit focuses on the structures needed for successful academic discourse, including following agreed-upon rules for discussions, asking and answering questions, using vocabulary, and producing complete sentences. The work in this unit sets students up for success in later units when they begin to engage with the thinking of their classmates.

Students continue to build their writing fluency by writing in response to the Target Task question. Over the course of the unit, students learn strategies for using complete sentences and are expected to use complete sentences orally and in writing when responding to the text. Students also continue their exploration of narrative writing by writing their own Anansi narrative that has a strong beginning, middle, and end. The unit culminates with students writing an opinion piece defending which folktale teaches the most important lesson, and why, using details from the text and their own life.

Please Note: In March 2025, this unit and its lesson plans received a round of enhancements. The text Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Lobel has been removed from the unit. The writing prompt for the Opinion Writing project has changed, and this unit is now 27 instructional days (previously 31 days). Teachers should pay close attention as they intellectually prepare to account for the updated pacing, sequencing, and content.

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Texts and Materials

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Core Materials

Supporting Materials

Text Selection Rationale
All Course Materials

Assessment

The following assessments accompany Unit 2.

Content Assessment

The Content Assessment pushes students to synthesize unit content knowledge or unit essential questions in writing. The Content Assessment should be used as the primary assessment because it shows mastery of unit content knowledge and standards.

Cold Read Assessment

The Cold Read Assessment tests students' ability to comprehend a "cold" or unfamiliar passage and answer standards-based questions. The Cold Read Assessment can be given in addition to the Content Assessment as a pulse point for what students can read and analyze independently, a skill often required for standardized testing.

Unit Prep

Intellectual Prep

Unit Launch

Before you teach this unit, unpack the texts, themes, and core standards through our guided intellectual preparation process. Each Unit Launch includes a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning to ensure you're prepared to support every student.

Essential Questions

  • What lessons can we learn from reading folktales?
  • How can we use the lessons we learn from folktales in our lives?

Reading Focus Areas

  • To understand what happens in a story, readers notice a character's traits.

  • The central message of a story is the big idea or lesson the story teaches. Noticing character traits and character change can help the reader determine the central message.

Writing Focus Areas

Narrative Writing

  • Write a narrative with a beginning, middle and end.

  • Include details about what happened with each event.

  • Write a problem and a connected solution. 

Opinion Writing

  • State an opinion. 

  • Include two to three reasons to support the opinion.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions.

  • Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

  • Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

  • Use specific vocabulary. Use vocabulary that is specific to the subject and task to clarify and share thoughts.

Vocabulary

Text-based

aghastashamedcouragedemanddishonestfoolfolktalesgenerousgentlegullibleimpatientinsultjusticelazylividmisfortunemisunderstoodmischievouspeacefulrepayrespectsatisfiedselfishstretchthoughtfulunusualunfortunatewastefulwise

Root/Affix

-fulre-un-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 2, view our 1st Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Content Knowledge and Connections

Lessons learned in the unit:

  • It is important to get to know people. You should not judge someone by what they look like.
  • You should think carefully before you act.
  • Do not be greedy. Be thankful for what you have.
  • Be careful what advice you listen to. You need to think for yourself.
  • Be kind to everyone. Show kindness and share with others.
  • There are many ways to solve a problem.
  • You should keep trying, even if you do not get what you want right away.
  • Be honest. Always tell the truth, even if it is hard.
  • Only take what you need.
  • Women are powerful and important.

Lesson Map

8
Lesson
Writing

3 days

Overview

Write a narrative about another trick Anansi plays on his friends by including a problem and a connected solution in the story. 

Materials
  • All Anansi texts from the unit
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer (GK–2)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Example (G1, U2, L8)
  • Mentor Text (G1, U2, L8)
  • Sample Problems (G1, U2, L8)
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G1)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L8)
  • Sample Text 1 (G1, U2, L8)
  • Sample Text 2 (G1, U2, L8)
Day 1 - Brainstorming

Brainstorm a folktale with a beginning, middle, and end.

Materials
  • All Anansi texts from the unit
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G1)
  • Mentor Text (G1, U2, L8)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L8)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer (GK–2)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Example (G1, U2, L8)
  • Sample Problems (G1, U2, L8)

Standards

W.1.3W.1.5

Day 2 - Drafting

Draft a folktale with a beginning, middle, and end including a problem and connected solution. 

Materials
  • All Anansi texts from the unit
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G1)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L8)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer (GK–2)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Example (G1, U2, L8)

Standards

L.1.1L.1.6SL.1.1SL.1.6W.1.3

Day 3 - Revision & Editing

Revise a folktale by deleting extra parts of the story that are not connected to the beginning, middle, and end. 

Materials
  • All Anansi texts from the unit
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G1)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L8)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer (GK–2)
  • Sample Text 1 (G1, U2, L8)
  • Sample Text 2 (G1, U2, L8)

Standards

L.1.1L.1.1.aL.1.1.jL.1.2L.1.2.bSL.1.1SL.1.6W.1.3W.1.5

23
Lesson
Writing
Overview

Defend which folktale has the most important lesson by naming an opinion and including reasons to support the opinion.

Materials
  • All unit texts
  • The Name Jar — From Unit 1
  • Opinion Writing Rubric (G1)
  • Single Point Opinion Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L23)
  • Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23)
  • Sample Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23)
  • Revision Text (G1, U2, L23)
  • Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer
  • Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer Example (G1, U2, L23)
  • Editing Checklist 2 (G1, U2)
Day 1 - Brainstorming

Brainstorm reasons that support an opinion using reasons from the text and personal experience. 

Materials
  • All unit texts
  • Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23)
  • Sample Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23)
  • Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer
  • Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer Example (G1, U2, L23)

Standards

L.1.1L.1.1.aL.1.1.jL.1.2L.1.2.bSL.1.1SL.1.6W.1.5

Day 2 - Drafting

Draft reasons from the text or your own life to support your opinion sentence. 

Materials
  • All unit texts
  • Single Point Opinion Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L23)
  • Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23) — From Day 1
  • Sample Note-Taking Sheet (G1, U2, L23)

Standards

L.1.1L.1.1.aL.1.1.jL.1.2L.1.2.bSL.1.1SL.1.6W.1.5

Day 3 - Revision & Editing

Add a concluding sentence to summarize the opinion writing by using a different sentence type. 

Materials
  • All unit texts
  • Single Point Opinion Writing Rubric (G1, U2, L23)
  • Revision Text (G1, U2, L23)
  • Editing Checklist 2 (G1, U2)

Standards

L.1.1L.1.1.aL.1.1.jL.1.2L.1.2.bSL.1.1SL.1.6W.1.3W.1.5

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

L.1.1
L.1.1.a
L.1.1.d
L.1.1.f
L.1.1.j
L.1.2
L.1.2.a
L.1.2.b
L.1.2.d
L.1.2.e
L.1.6
RL.1.2
RL.1.3
RL.1.7
RL.1.9
SL.1.1
SL.1.1.a
SL.1.4
SL.1.6
W.1.1
W.1.3
W.1.5

Supporting Standards

L.1.4
L.1.5
RL.1.1
RL.1.4
RL.1.10
SL.1.2

Read Next

Folktales Around the World
Lesson 1
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