Description

Do your students have a difficult time with story details? The following lesson helps your students focus and listen to stories in order to identify similarities and differences in those stories.

Materials

- Pencils
- Book: Perrault, Charles. Cinderella. Simon & Schuster Children's, 1997. (If this is not available, Cinderella is available from various other authors.)
- Book: Steptoe, John L. and Kohen, Clarita (translator). Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1987.
- 3 Sheets of chart paper
- 2 Sheets of blue construction paper
- Crayola markers
- 1 Pair of adult scissors
- A class set of Venn diagrams (See Attached File)

Procedures

DAY 1
1. Begin the lesson by asking the students to look at each other and think about how they are all the same.

2. Then ask the students to give examples, such as each person has two arms, legs, and eyes.

3. Ask the students to look again to see how they are different from the other students in the classroom.

4. Again, ask the children to give examples (i.e. different shaped faces, different color hair and eyes, different clothes).

5. Tell the students that they will be listening to two different stories. They will be challenged to find as many things that are the same in both stories and as many things that are different.

6. Ask the students if they have heard the story Cinderella.

7. Tell the students that there are many different versions of Cinderella. Each version is not the same.

8. After a brief discussion, tell the students that today they will hear one version of the story called Cinderella and tomorrow they will hear another version called Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale.

9. In developing the purpose for listening to the stories, tell the students that they will be listening for the details that are the same in both stories and the details that are different in both stories.

10. Introduce and list any vocabulary from Cinderella that the students have not been exposed to. Discuss the words and write the definitions. Choose students to use the words in a sentence to assure understanding of the words.

11. Show the cover of the book and discuss what the students see. Remind them of the purpose for listening to the story.

12. Read the story Cinderella with discussion as needed.

13. After reading the story Cinderella, have the students identify the following: main idea, characters, setting, problem, and story details.

14. List the above items on your chart paper.

15. Remind the students that they will be listening to a similar story the next day.

DAY 2
16. On the following day, review the previous day's lesson, including vocabulary and story parts.

17. Introduce the story, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale. Follow the procedures used in Day 1 for introducing the traditional version of Cinderella (develop reason for listening, introduce unfamiliar vocabulary, etc.).

18. Discuss the cover of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale and make a comparison with Cinderella read on Day 1 (i.e. both covers have a picture of a girl).

19. Read the story Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale with discussion as needed.

20. After reading the story, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale, again have the children identify the following: main idea, characters, setting, problem, and story details.

21. List the above items on your chart paper, overhead or chalkboard.

22. Discuss and list on both charts the differences.

23. On a separate chart, list one of the similarities found in the two stories, Cinderella and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-An African Tale.

24. Explain how a Venn diagram is used (show example on chart paper) and that each student will be completing their own Venn diagram. (See Attached File)

25. Tell the students that they need to list at least three similarities and three differences for each story, with the similarities listed in the overlapping part of their individual Venn diagram. Refer to the two blue clouds with the headings What's the same? and What's different? to reinforce what the students' focus is.

26. Give examples on your copy of the Venn diagram that is displayed. Remember not to list more than two examples, as the students will need to demonstrate their knowledge of identifying similarities and differences between two texts.

27. As the students are completing the activity, walk around the room and conference with the individual students giving specific positive feedback.

28. When the students have completed their copies, complete the class Venn diagram on the class chart together with the children sharing information from their individual Venn diagrams.

29. Collect Venn diagrams and record that the activity was completed. Conference with any children that were unable to complete the activity (this could/should have been done during the completion of the activity).

30. Return the completed Venn diagrams to each student with supportive comments.

Extensions

1. Use other related books to identify more similarities and differences. For example:
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Yen Mah;
The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo;
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China by Ai-ling Ling Louie;
Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story by Robert D. San Souci;
The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin;
Smokey Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder; and/or
Cinderella Bigfoot by Mike Thaler.
These books are available at Barnes and Noble. (See Web Links)
2. Use other texts to identify similarities and differences (i.e. The Three Little Pigs by David Weisner and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka).
3. Have the students write an alternative ending to Cinderella.
4. Have the students write a journal entry in which they tell why they would or would not recommend this book to a friend.
5. For ESOL students that are not writing in English, have them dictate their answers to complete the Venn diagram.

Attached Files

This file contains the Venn diagram.     File Extension: pdf