Unit Summary
This unit is focused on two classic fairy tales: The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. With each fairy tale, students are first exposed to a classic version, familiarizing themselves with the basic plot and lessons. Then, students explore the ways authors change the setting, characters, and plot while still maintaining the overall essence of the classic story. Some of the changes the authors make reflect the nuances of different cultures and environments, while others are made for entertainment and humor. Either way, students will explore the idea that different authors can use their perspectives and culture to shape the stories they write or retell.
By reading multiple versions of the same classic fairy tale, students will abe able to grapple with the bigger lessons of each tale—the importance of not talking to strangers and the importance of respecting others’ property and privacy. Throughout the unit, students will be challenged to think about how each of these unique themes is portrayed and how in each different version of the fairy tale the characters may learn the lesson in slightly different ways.
This unit builds directly onto the reading strategies from previous units. Students will continue to be pushed to be inquisitive consumers of text, asking and answering questions about characters, settings, and plots as they listen to and engage with a text. Students will continue to work on retelling stories and including key details. Similar to previous units, students will continue to think deeply about characters and the setting, but in this unit, students will be pushed to think about how the setting of a story can influence a character’s actions. A new focus of this unit is on comparing and contrasting the adventures and experiences of characters in stories. Students will be asked at multiple points to use the information they have learned about key events, characters, and setting to compare and contrast different versions of the classic fairy tale.
When discussing the text with partners, small-group, or whole-group, students will continue to work on engaging with the thinking of others. Students will build on the strategies they learned in previous units as they continue to work on continuing conversations through multiple exchanges by building on others’ talk in conversations.
Students will continue to build their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task question, with an added emphasis on expanding their sentences using more details and a variety of conjunctions. Students also have an opportunity to continue to refine their narrative writing skills by writing their version of The Three Little Pigs.
In reading, this unit builds directly onto the reading strategies from previous units. Students will continue to be pushed to be inquisitive consumers of text, asking and answering questions about characters, settings, and plots as they listen to and engage with a text. Students will continue to work on retelling stories and including key details. Similar to previous units, students will continue to think deeply about characters and the setting, but in this unit, students will be pushed to think about how the setting of a story can influence a character’s actions. A new focus of this unit is on comparing and contrasting the adventures and experiences of characters in stories. Students will be asked at multiple points to use the information they have learned about key events, characters, and setting to compare and contrast different versions of the classic fairy tale. When discussing the text with partners, small-group, or whole-group, students will continue to work on engaging with the thinking of others. Students will build on the strategies they learned in previous units as they continue to work on continuing conversations through multiple exchanges by building on others’ talk in conversations.
As writers, students will continue to build their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task question, with an added emphasis on expanding their sentences using more details and a variety of conjunctions. Students also have an opportunity to continue to refine their narrative writing skills by writing their version of The Three Little Pigs.