I LOVE teaching Fairy Tales! Today I want to share my absolute all-time favorite resources with you, as well as give you some activity ideas, some YouTube videos your kids will be sure to fall in love with, and a Little Red Hen FREEBIE (which will be at the end of the post)!
**This post contains affiliate links.**
Fairy tales are my favorite books to read to students. I especially like to read different versions of them that allow us to compare/contrast. Have you seen the ones that are told by an unexpected character from each story. These are just some of them from the collection. But there are a lot more available too.
Here are links to my top 5 favorites, but you can browse through all of them here.
If you really want to have your kiddos rolled up in giggles, try this one:
(Ok, I laugh just reading the title!)
My students like to create their own fairy tales and also reenact their interpretations of the well known ones. I happily noticed that they were falling in love with them just as much as I was.
However, when they would go to the reading carpet to look at the variety of fairy books I had laid out, they were only skimming the pictures.
I needed fairy tale books that were more at their level.
So I ordered some from online. All kinds of them at a variety of levels. I was so excited when they arrived, but to my disappointment, for most of my students, the words were still too hard and the sentences still too long.
I decided to create my own miniature versions of classic fairy tales (& fables & folk tales-but those are for a different time!) that are at simple levels...levels that even beginner readers could handle.
I bundled them together (there are 16 fairy tale readers total) so that if you're interested and want them for your classroom, you can access them all in one simple download - Fairy Tales Emergent Readers Bundle.
They are also available individually as well! They include the following stories:
(This last one is perfect to read during your Christmas week of activities!)
When your students read these little books, have them use gel highlighters to highlight sight words that you have or are currently working on. Or blends, or whatever you want them to focus on.
Whenever I read a Fairy Tale to my students, I like to also show them the matching YouTube channel CoolSchool's videos! They are fun, silly, and perfect for comparing and contrasting. Plus, they'll have your littles rolling on the ground in giggles!
There are many types of videos on the CoolSchool channel, but we focus most on the FairyTale (& Nursery Rhymes...but those are for a different post!) ones with Ms. Booksy, who not only narrates the story, but jumps right into the story herself...literally!
Here are a couple of our favorite...although they all are really good:
Jack & the Beanstalk:
Little Red Riding Hood:
If you're looking for math and literacy activities to go with your Fairy Tale units, I have a few that will go with the more common ones used in classrooms. Most of the activities were made with the Common Core standards in mind.
This Goldilocks & the 3 Bears Math & Literacy Bundle includes over 100 pages of emergent readers, vocab reinforcement, labeling activities, fact/fiction practice, counting & pattern practice, and so much more!
Here is a Rapunzel Math & Literacy Bundle of Activities. It includes 75 pages. There is even a Spanish emergent reader included!
I also have a Cinderella Math & Literacy Bundle and a Three Little Pigs Math & Literacy Bundle, too!
Don't forget to also introduce your kiddos to Fables & Folk Tales!
I've created fable and folk tale emergents readers, which I'll talk about some other time.
Remember that FREE DOWNLOAD I have for you? Well, it's a The Little Red Hen emergent reader! Before I send you off to download it, here are some ideas that you can use along with it.
These craft ideas are simple and involve supplies you most likely already have! (I hate having to go out and purchase a bunch of stuff I only wind up using once a year.)
From GluedToMyCraftsBlog.com:
From A Spoonful of Learning:
From IHeartCraftyThings.com:
From GluedToMyCraftsBlog.com:
From HomeMadeSpeech.com:
Ready for a FREEBIE?!
This Little Red Hen Reader has easy to read text and includes 20 pages. Many of the pages are repetitive so that littles can experience even more success when reading! Take a peek at some of the pages...you can download it absolutely FREE using the link below!
GET IT HERE: The Little Red Hen FREEBIE
And here's CoolSchool's matching video to go with it! (It starts at minute 17:09)
I hope you enjoy these resources as much as I do.
May they keep your littles reading!
If you're looking for even more Fairy Tale ideas, follow my Fairy Tales Pinterest Board!
-Til next time
