OTT 264: Fairytales, Folktales, and Fables: Teaching Genre with Heart and Purpose

Feeling the October teaching slump? When attention spans dwindle and classroom routines grow heavy, fairy tales, folk tales, and fables offer the perfect remedy. These timeless genres breathe fresh life into your curriculum while delivering powerful standards-based instruction wrapped in enchanting narratives.

Traditional tales work magic in the classroom because they naturally teach moral lessons through engaging stories. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" demonstrates the value of honesty while "Stone Soup" celebrates community and sharing. The countless cultural variations of tales like Cinderella create natural opportunities for compare and contrast activities while introducing students to diverse perspectives. When children begin recognizing patterns across these stories independently, they're developing critical thinking skills that transfer to other texts and subject areas.

These short, accessible narratives offer remarkable versatility—from explicit comprehension instruction to writing extensions, social-emotional learning connections, and even STEM challenges. Imagine students designing a better bed for Goldilocks or building bridges to help the Billy Goats avoid the troll! Best of all, implementing this genre study in October provides an alternative celebration opportunity that works even in schools with Halloween restrictions. Conclude your unit with a reader's celebration where students dress as story characters, creating memorable experiences while honoring reading achievement.

Ready to bring these magical stories to your classroom? Download free anchor chart posters to help students distinguish between these three genres at trinadeberyteachingandlearning.com/fairy-tales, or find the complete standards-aligned unit on TPT. These classic stories still have so much to teach us and our students—step into a world of magic beans, clever foxes, and enchanted forests, and let these timeless tales do the heavy lifting for a while.

Free Fairytales, Folktales, and Fables Genre Posters

https://www.trinadeboreeteachingandlearning.com/fairytales

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Fairy Tales Unit
• 1:32 Why Traditional Tales Still Work
• 4:31 Curriculum Connections and Resources
• 5:48 October Implementation Ideas
• 7:09 Celebrating Reading Through Costumes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to One Tired Teacher. Episode 264, fairy Tales, folk Tales and Fables Teaching Genre with Heart and Purpose. This week, we're talking about slowing down and talking about something timeless fairy tales, folk tales and fables. If you're wondering how to keep your curriculum fresh in October, when attention spans start to dip and routines start to feel heavy, this genre study can bring the breath of fresh air that you and your students need. October is the perfect time to dig into traditional tales. These short but powerful stories build comprehension, character conversations and cultural literacy in such a natural way, and they are a wonderful alternative to some of the seasonal Halloween kinds of things that we so desperately want to do and sometimes can't do for whatever reason. This is a great alternative. Plus, it is heavily standards-based and it is fun. Hope you stick around.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Welcome to One Tired Teacher. And even though she may need a nap, this teacher is ready to wake up and speak her truth about the trials and treasures of teaching here. She is wide awake. Wait, she's not asleep right now, is she? She is awake, right? Okay, From Trina Debery.

Speaker 1: 1:32

Teaching and Learning. Your host, trina Debery. Hey, so today I'm going to share how genre-specific routines not only anchor your reading instruction, but they also spark some of the richest, most joyful conversations you will have all year. Now, if you're like I've heard me talk about fairy tales, folktales and fables before, I actually think I have on a past One Tire Teacher. I might have also talked about it or written about it on my blog, so I'm going to try to find those blog posts and those podcast episodes and link them in case you're wanting like even more information about it. But today we're focusing on these timeless genres and specific routines that have to do with that, so that we can really anchor that reading instruction and really spark conversations and joyful conversations as well as meaningful, enriching conversations. Okay, let's talk about why these stories still work.

Speaker 1: 2:37

One of the things that I love most about teaching fairy tales, folk tales and fables is how naturally they lend themselves to teaching morals or the moral of the story. That can be a tricky standard sometimes, and these stories are perfect for that. The life lessons that are embedded in like really just the right way. For example, when you look at, like a fable such as the Boy who Cried Wolf Example. When you look at like a fable, such as the Boy who Cried Wolf, this shows kids the value of their word. I think that's really important and it also shows it in a way that they're like whoa. I mean that can really go wrong, that can really go south if we are not honest and truthful. Another thing is like Stone Soup, which is a folktale. This reminds us of the power of community and sharing, and don't even get me started on compare and contrast. This is like the genre that's meant for compare and contrast. There are so many versions of folktales like Stone Soup that they're written through so many different cultural lenses and it's such a breath of fresh air to like introduce kids to things that are so different than what they see every day, or the countless global twists of Cinderella from glass slippers to golden sandals to feather cloaks. Each one is offering something new to explore and I also love when kids start to recognize those patterns on their own and they realize how the same theme can appear in so many different forms. These stories they're short and accessible. They're perfect for teaching comprehension. They're full of universal themes. They're great for discussions and connections and deeper comprehension work. They're naturally rich with writing, social and emotional lessons and even STEM extensions.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Many years ago, I created a genre focused unit on fairy tales, folktales and fables. It was common core, aligned. It can go beyond that as well. I mean, we're still talking about traditional standards, like you know, asking and answering questions. We're talking about retelling. We're talking about how characters overcome obstacles in vocabulary and we're talking about, you know, their perspectives and point of view. I love talking about point of view with fairy tales, especially when you're doing like Cinderella and then you're doing Seriously Cinderella or those other versions where it's like the Seriously book, seriously Cinderella I can't remember what it's called, but it's told from the Wicked Stepmother's point of view and I think that is so fun. Anyway, I created this, this unit, and you can find it on my shop on TPT, trina Debery teaching and learning. But you can also start with my free anchor chart posters that help kids distinguish between these three genres and you can grab those at Trina Debery teaching and learningcom.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Forward slash fairy tales. All right, let's talk about ways to use folktales, fairy tales and fables this month. Do you need some easy ideas for October? Try one of these. Read one story per week and build a living genre wall with student notes or artwork. Act out a fable or rewrite it with a modern twist, or turn a fairy tale problem into a STEM challenge, build a better bed for Goldilocks, or build a bridge to help the billy goats avoid the troll. There's so many things that we can do with fairy tales, folktales and fables. There's so much flexibility and so much natural learning moments that occur in these genres, and that's one of the things that I really love the most about it.

Speaker 1: 6:29

The other reason I like to teach this particular unit in October is because I like to conclude my reading units with a celebration, like a reader's celebration, and I love to be able to allow kids to dress up in costume. Even if your school is not no Halloween costumes, this doesn't have to be Halloween costumes. This can be fairy tales, folk tales or fable costumes, and it can be based on stories that you've read. Now that doesn't just limit you to princesses and knights and dragons, and I mean that can be like a wide variety of things. I mean, think about the fox and the grapes, or think about, you know, the boy that cried wolf the wolf. I mean there's so many different things that are available with these stories and it just makes it really come to life and it celebrates. It celebrates reading in a way that kids get excited about, and I just love to have a party at the conclusion of reading. I just think it's fun.

Speaker 1: 7:34

And I did do fairy tales, folk tales and fables at this time of year on purpose, because I wanted them to be able to dress up and they weren't allowed to dress up in my school. Only pre-K and kindergarten was allowed. Nobody else was allowed. And I'm like, well, I got to change that and even I would dress up. I would dress up as a princess. It was so fun. Anyway, so that's just an idea for October. These classic stories still have so much to teach us and our students. They'll remember them for years. So if you're feeling the October blaws, try stepping into a world of magic beans, clever foxes or enchanted forests and let the stories do the heavy lifting for a little while. Until next time, sweet dreams and sleep tight.