Writing Wizards

Web Links for teachers

Instructional material


Folktales Writers workshop: Alma Flor Ada abd Rafe Martin take you through the steps of imagining and writing a folktale and offer tips, challenges and guidelines to help in the writing. To be adapted for a young audience.
Folktale, Myth, Legend and Fable: Defines and gives examples of these four folktale forms


Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales Theme Page: From the Community Learning Network, this Theme Page has links to two types of resources related to the study of Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are also links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme.
Fairy Tales: evaluation example: The sample shows how a teacher might link criteria to learning outcomes. It is based on prescribed learning outcomes (BC Ministry of Education) taken from one or more organizers. The samples provide background information to explain the classroom context; suggested instruction tasks and strategies; the tools and methods used to gather assessment information; and the criteria used to evaluate student performance. The page is maintained by the ELA co-ordinator of the BC Monistry of Education.
Fractured Fairy Tales, Language Arts Activity (by Houghton Mifflin Company): In this creative writing activity, students will use familiar characters, plots and settings from traditional fairy tales to create "fractured" versions. By altering the story line, adding an unexpected twist, or creating a contemporary "spin," students will experiment with satire, irony and parody.
Fractured Fairy Tales: a list of books: Fractured Fairy tales are perfect for anyone who has ever enjoyed fairy tales. They may be compared with the originals, or appreciated for their breaks in established form. Generally they are intended for children who have a familiarity with fairy tale themes and motifs.


KinderCastles by Nancy Yost: Searching for classroom investigations that can relate to children's interests, Nancy Yosts opens her school year with a medieval study which lends itself to many directions and depths, including using fairy tales. From there, they look at castles as homes, dramatize fairy tales, etc. This page offers links to the resources she has created and uses in her class.
Who needs a Fairy Godmother, Anyway?: This WebQuest poses the following problem: "Almost everyone knows the story of Cinderella and how her Fairy Godmother helped her get to the ball, meet the Prince, and live happily ever after. But we know that Fairy Godmothers are make-believe. Your quest is to help Cinderella figure out how to get to the ball without depending on magic." This is an interesting perspective for rewriting... but is the result a "Fairy Tale" ? :-)))

Classic and Ethnic Folktales



Canadian Folklore: Myths, legends, folktales and fairy stories from Canada
Classic Fairy Tales and Fables: If your library is rather limited in its offerings, this site offers about 1000 classic tales
Fairy Tales at Childrenstory.com: This "commercial" web site offers a selections of Fairy Tales, some of which have an audio component. Among the titles: Puss'n Boots, Cinderella, The Princess and the Pea, Snow White and Red Rose, The Frog King, The Lion and the Mouse, Sleeping Beauty, The Hare and the Tortoise, Snow White, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Golden Bird, The little Pear Girl, ...

Folklore, Myth and Legend: From the "Children's Literature Web Guide", a page that gives you access to a great number of stories as well as Folklore Reference Sources. You can get many versions of the best fairy tales, versions your students may never have seen... really "old"!

Maya Culture: Traditional Storyteller's Tales: These animal stories are from Tales and Legends of the Q'anjob'al Maya (Yax:Te' Press, copyright 1995; reprinted here with permission). This collection is 41 tales, fables, myths and legends of the Q'anjob'al-speaking people of the Cuchumat'n Mountains of Guatemala. There are animal stories, strange encounters with Lords of the Hill, tales of deceit and wonder, and origin legends.
Native American & Ethnic Folklore: Native American, Cajun, French Canadian folktales and more.


Russian Folktales: This page is entirely dedicated to the folk tales of Russia and Ukraine. Tales are the part of culture, traditions, customs and history of people. Many generations of Russian (and not Russian only!) children have been brought up by these glorious and magnificent tales.
Swahili Folk Tale: On the PBS web site, the children can listen to the story and read it at the same time.

Fairy Tale Versions


Cinderella Stories: This list of variations on the Cinderella story was initially compiled by Kathy Martin from suggestions by readers of the CHILDLIT mailing list. It contains Internet resources making accessible many versions and variations of Cinderella as well as teaching ideas. The page offers a bibliography of reference books, articles, pictures books and full length versions.
Cinderella--The Real Story by Yvonne Augustin ("Point of View" retelling): As told by Oscar the gregarious mouse, who assures us that he saw the whole thing. According to Oscar in this charmingly whimsical tale, it wasn't exactly the way you've heard it. The fairy godmother, for instance, didn't waltz in on a beam of light. She wandered in with a brown Foodtown shopping bag in her hand, looking rather like she could have used a fairy godmother herself. A modern retelling of a classic fairy tale
Defendant testifies ("Point of View" retelling): Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But this is s the real story as told by Alexander T. Wolf. Based on THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS! AS TOLD TO JON SCIESZKA ILLUSTRATED BY LANE SMITH, Published by: VIKING, 375 Hudson Street New York NY 10014, 1989 (Available for order online at Amazon.com... link at bottom of story page.)


Sample Fractured Fairy Tales by a grade 3 class: With titles like Spinderella, Pansel and Jansel, Goldie Blocks and the Three Hares, these stories were created by children for sure. I created the link here, as a resource to inspire teachers. But it might be fun to see what the children think about them.