Exploring ONE FINE TRADE in the Classroom!

If there wasn't anything to find out,
it would be dull.
Even trying to find out and not finding out is just as interesting as trying to find out and finding out; and I don't know but more so.
—Mark Twain, Eve's Diary

During the spring of 2009, Ashland University (Ohio) College of Education students created lesson plans featuring children’s picture books illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, including ONE FINE TRADE.

Under the direction of their professor, Dr. Mary Rycik, they each selected a book and prepared writing activities which incorporated objectives taken from Ohio’s language arts curriculum. They presented their lessons to students in kindergarten through third grade during their field experience teaching assignments in the Mansfield City School District.

For the lesson plan on ONE FINE TRADE,
applications, and pictures, see here.

Another lesson plan: Anastasia Suen presents a mini-lesson , using an Idea Wheel Graphic Organizer, at Picture Book of the Day: One Fine Trade.

Exploring Davy Crockett in the Classroom!

Affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, this is the Davy Crockett teacher resource, an extensive and excellent teaching guide that includes several lesson plans, additional resources, and a rubric for assessment: Born on a Mountaintop: Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History.

Telling a story is like singing a song. A good story has its rhythms and its refrains. Words sway and swing and slide across the page. When we read a good story, it feels like we’re dancing.” ~Bobbi Miller. Come see my interview at Melanie Hope Greenberg’s blog.

In my own journey learning about the storytelling process, I come to recognize that a folktale, whether a retelling or adaptation, is defined by its oral nature. As a result, language becomes as important as the story and the illustration. In fact, language becomes as much a character as the protagonist. In my picturebook Davy Crocket Gets Hitched (Holiday House, 2009), the language, like the characters, is rambunctious and bodacious. The language defies the tidy, restrictive, even uptight structure of formal grammar. It mocks it, in fact, using pseudo-Latinate prefixes and suffixes to expand on the root. The result is a teetotaciously, splendiferous reflection of a wild frontier too big for mere words to capture.

In this exercise, play with language by creating metaphors and similes that engage in the senses. Stay away from the obvious, and dare to explore and stretch your imagination!

These socks smelled like ____.
She buried the secret like a ____.
His voice grated like a ____.
The clouds scowled like ____.
His temper raged like ____.
She sang like ____.
Home is ____.
An empty house smells like____.
Friendship is ____.
I am a ____.

See this complete exercise, Writing Tip: Finding Your Folklore Voice with Bobbi Miller, and similar writing exercises on Lynne Pisano’s blog, My Word Playground.

American Folklore! S.E. Schlosser invites you to grab a cup of coffee, pull up a comfy chair, and explore this folklore site that contains retellings of folktales, myths, legends, fairy tales, superstitions, weatherlore, and ghost stories from all over the Americas.

Children's Folklore Section/American Folklore Society

Folktales and Myths of Trees: The tales presented are offered by Spirit of Trees, to be retold and shared anew in the spirit of conservation. Cristy West, Editor and Program Coordinator.

Journal of Mythic Arts is sponsored by the Endicott Studio, a nonprofit organization dedicated to literary, visual, and performance arts inspired by myth, folklore, fairy tales, and the oral storytelling tradition.

From The Fetzer Institute, in collaboration with the Institute's Generosity of Spirit project team, Learning to Give creates an interesting resource that helps foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in the emerging global community. “From earliest childhood we are captivated by the sounds of the human voice telling a story. There is an elemental, magnetic pull to hear the myths, fables and parables that are a part of our varied cultures. We learn early life lessons from these wise folktales with their colorful characters and episodes.”

Explore Appalachian folklore on this site! A very good resource that offers General Guidelines for Teaching with Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, Fables, Ballads, compiled by Tina Hanlon, Ferrum College. Study guides offer activities and bibliography for Appalachian folk literature. Includes a wonderful Annotated Index of Appalachian Folktales, with parallel tales from other traditions. The compiler, S.E. Schlosser, is the author of the “Spooky” series by Globe Pequot Press, and created this site as part of a graduate study at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey. Teachers use this site in lesson plans for students of all levels. Stories from the site have also been used in college text books and in Masters level programs.

SurLaLune Fairy Tales features 49 annotated fairy tales, including their histories, similar tales across cultures, modern interpretations and 1500 illustrations.