Third-graders often read many types of folktales and fantasy stories, so it is important to know the difference between, say, a fable, a legend, a tall tale and a fairy tale. Common elements that help children easily identify a fairy tale include introductions that start with "Once upon a time...," a "long ago" setting, royal characters such as kings, queens, princes and princesses, imaginary creatures or humans with magical powers, a conflict between good and evil characters, and of course, the typical fairy tale ending, "and they lived happily ever after." Many things in fairy tales come in threes -- three wishes, three attempts to solve the problem and so on. Have students read a selection of five to eight fairy tales and create a chart that indicates which fairy tale elements appear in each story.
Fractured fairy tales take a well-known story and tell it from the point of view of the villain or another character. Jon Scieszka's "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" is a well-known example as it tells the story from the wolf's point of view, which is completely different from the classic story from the pigs' point of view. Read some fractured fairy tales such as "Cinder-elly" by Frances Minters, "Sleeping Ugly" by Jane Yolen or "Jack and the Meanstalk" by Brian and Rebecca Wildsmith, along with the traditional versions. Discuss how the two versions differ and why, drawing out the understanding that someone's point of view colors how she interprets events that affect her. Therefore, it is important to hear all sides of a story before deciding what you think about something. Let students choose a favorite fairy tale and write a fractured version from another character's point of view.
The story setting or culture can inspire students to cook up a fairy tale treat to share with classmates. "Peter Rabbit" can be an excuse to make carrot cake. "Red Riding Hood" can set students imagining what kind of cookies Red was taking to Grandma's house and get them busy baking up a cookie basket of their own. Bake a pie for "Hansel and Gretel," or build straw houses out of pretzels and peanut butter for the "Three Little Pigs." Have a fairy tale feast day for students to share all their goodies, and collect the recipes to make a fairy tale cookbook.
Puppets or live-action fairy-tale theater give students public speaking and presentation skills. Make stick puppets, paper bag or sock puppets, marionettes or shadow puppets; or design backdrops, set props and costumes for each character in a live theater production. Write a script and re-enact the fairy tale for another class or at a performance for parents.
Whether it's castles and princesses, talking frogs and bears, knights, dwarves, mermaids, unicorns or furry forest friends, paper crafts give artistic students an outlet for their fairy-tale-inspired creativity. DLTK Teach and many other craft websites provide a wide assortment of options for fairy tale crafts.