1-2-3 Come Do Some Fairy Tale Activities With Me     

One of the many themes I do with my students is fairy tales.  It’s a great unit for “March is Reading Month” complete with a super-fun parade of “book characters” or a nice theme to wind down with at the end of the year.

One of our favorite fairy tales is "The Three Little Pigs". There are zillions of versions of this popular story out there, which make for wonderful comparison-contrast discussions. Click on the link for a cute YouTube video of a contemporary version:"The 3 Little Pigs"

Fairy tales are not only enjoyable, often leaving us with a "moral of the story" to ponder, but they are simple and short, making it easy for students to remember.  They're perfect for practicing the “sequence & retell a story” standards.  

With that in mind, I designed 3 different crafts for "The 3 Little Pigs" fairy tale, which make it extra fun to practice these standards. Choose either a storytelling WHEEL, SLIDER or a "Flip-the-Flap" face craftivity.  

All of the patterns come in black & white for students to color, as well colorful templates so that teachers can quickly and easily make an example to share to help explain things.  

First up is the "flip it" piggy. Simply run the pig pattern off on pink construction paper or card stock.

Students trim & add a few highlights with crayons.

For some 3D pop, have children bend the tips of the ears forward.

The pattern already has eyes, but for added pizzazz, attach a pair of wiggle eyes with glue dots. 

The pig’s “nose” tells the tale, as students color, cut & collate the oval pages into a little booklet, which is then stapled to the pig’s head.

Another interesting "hands-on" way to sequence & retell the fairy tale is with a "turn & learn" wheel.

There are full color patterns to use for an independent center,  plus a black and white pattern, so students can make their own.

When everyone is done, practice telling “The 3 Little Pigs” using the manipulative. Everyone starts by turning their wheel so that the little pig who built his house of straw, appears in the “pie-slice window”, then call on a child to tell what happened.

Continue to turn the wheel, calling on different students to tell you that portion of the story.

When you get to the sixth-pie slice, where the wolf blows the stick house down, have children flip their pig over to reveal the rest of the story.

Afterwards, have students pick a partner and take turns sharing their wheels with each other. Sometimes we do this with our older, reading buddies.
This is a quick, easy & fun way to check comprehension too.

For writing practice, have students complete the “Here’s What Happened” writing prompt worksheet, then color it.

To check comprehension, and reinforce the “sequencing a story” standard, I’ve also included a “color, cut & glue” sequencing worksheet.

Finally, my "sliders" are also a super-fun way to retell and sequence the story. 

There are 3 outside slider options to choose from: A pig, the 3 pig's houses, and the 3 little pigs grouped together.  Pick your favorite or give children a choice. 

Little ones can do the easy-peasy rectangular shape for simple cutting, while older kiddos can opt to cut around the pigs and houses.

Students color the story elements on the “slider strips” then cut and glue them together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider-strip” the various pictures go through the “window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their “Three Little Pigs” slider home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

I introduce the lesson by reading the ”fairy tale”, then share my completed "slider craft” with my students.

So that you can quickly, and easily make an example, I’ve included full-color slider patterns.

After I read the story, we retell the tale together, using the picture prompts on my slider.
I have them guess which story element they think comes next, before I pull the picture through the “window”.

My students now know what’s expected of them, and are very excited to transition to making a slider of their own.

Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.  I’ve included a “Let’s “sequence the story” activity for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on their worksheet.

There are also 2, “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheets, as another way to check comprehension, plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers and other transitions. 

Since the end of school is just around the corner for many teachers, and some are getting ready for a preschool or kindergarten graduation, today's FREEBIE is a list of over 150 songs appropriate for end of the year slide shows, graduation ceremonies and performances. 

Since I spent countless hours compiling it, I thought other teachers might be needing the same thing, so to save you time and help you check one more thing off your "to do" list, click on the link.  Hope you find it helpful. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping by. Two of my 8 grandchildren are coming over, so time to put my Nana hat on. 

Hopefully the rain will hold off 'til we've had some outdoor fun.  Wishing you a carefree day filled with lots of hugs and snuggles. I know I'm looking forward to mine!

"We may not be rich and famous, but our grandchildren are certainly priceless." -Unknown