Most stories have a beginning, middle and end. Additional story elements are setting, main character and a problem or goal. Discuss the story structure of a fairy tale and create a chart that lists the components most fairy tales contain. Ask students to compare the elements of a fairy tale to the elements of a realistic fiction story. Read several fairy tale picture books. After each story, the students discuss the elements and write them on the chart.
Comparing and contrasting information is one of the nine instructional strategies most likely to improve student achievement, as explained by Robert Marzano in "Classroom Instruction That Works." Read different versions of one fairy tale such as "Cinderella." Compare and contrast the elements of the different versions. The Chinese version of the Cinderella story is "Yeh-Shen" and the Native American version is called "The Rough Faced Girl". "Rhodopsis" is the Egyptian version.
Once students have explored the elements of fairy tales and many picture books, they can begin to experiment with writing this genre. In "Mentor Texts," the authors Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli explain that students need to be introduced to a story as a reader. They must understand the content before they can focus on the writer's craft. To assist students in planning their fairy tale, create a graphic organizer for all of the elements.
Fractured fairy tales have one element that has been changed from the original version. An example would be the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" in which the setting is changed to New York City. Changing one element impacts the entire story. Students can practice manipulating story elements to create a fractured fairy tale with the interactive tool at ReadWriteThink (see Resources) before they attempt to write one.