Reading is the most important subject in school. There are many important subjects in school, but lets face it – if a student does not read well they will be stifled quickly in math, science, social studies and all other subjects. A+ math students will get the answer to a word problem wrong, if they cannot read it. I try to make my reading time as magical as possible, because as I tell my students – we are never done reading. I love having a literature rich classroom, and exposing my students to as much literature as possible. Lately altered fairy tales are everywhere, so this month I decided to blog about the benefits of studying altered fairy tales with your students.
Benefits of Studying Altered Fairy Tales:
- Altered fairy tales expose your students to the original tale as well as the altered version. To truly study them both, students have to keep going back to the original tale. This of course allows them time to re-read and think deeper about the meanings in both texts.
- Students are able to compare and contrast both stories. Once again, students have a solid reason to dig deeper into both texts.
- Students have to think critically. Students are able to see familiar characters in a whole new light, by reading the altered story as well as the original tale. One of my favorite altered tale authors is Liesl Shurtliff. She has authored Rump, Jack, and Red. Each of her books develops the main characters of traditional tales dramatically different from their traditional versions. I created novel study guides for each story, which allow my students to write about their thinking with each story. You can access the novel study for Jack here.
There are examples of altered fairy tales – with many examples recently on television and in films. My students enjoy reading and writing about them. If you choose to do an altered fairy tale unit with your class, make sure that you give them time to create their own altered fairy tale. This is the best way to assess the true magic of the unit. Whichever altered fairy tales you decide to study, make sure you have fun making magic in your classrooms!