Fractured Fairy Tales with Second Grade

A few weeks ago, Johnson second grade students began writing their own fractured fairy tales based on the classic fairy tales that we all know and love. With a lot of teamwork, planning, and good old fashioned hard work, they took stories like Sleeping Beauty and The Tortoise and the Hare and put their own, uniquely Johnson spin on them!

To prepare for the writing of our fractured fairy tales, we learned about the history and structure of familiar, classic fairy tales. We started with familiar fairy tale language like “Once upon a time…” and ….”they lived happily ever after!” Then, we discussed the characters that often make an appearance in these stories – royalty like queens, kings, and knights, and magical characters like witches, pixies, and dragons. We talked about the battle of good vs. evil that is present in most famous fairy tales, and the triumph of good over evil – which makes them especially fun to read!

After a couple of weeks of studying, we were ready to start with writing. Second grade students began by creating an outline for their fractured fairy tale – what will happen in the beginning? How about in the middle? How will your fractured fairy tale end? Once we had our outlines, we created our characters and assigned them to group members. Finally, we started the hardest step – taking our outline and turning it into a performance. This meant incorporating setting, characters, dialogue, and props, as well as lots and lots of practice. A big thank you to Ms. McKeon and Ms. Machen for welcoming this challenging library lesson into the classroom and giving students so much help to make their fractured fairy tales spectacular!

On performance day, students stood in front of their class and shared the plays that they had written and practiced together. With their permission, I recorded some group performances so that I could share them with you on the blog. Without further ado, the Johnson Elementary School Learning Leopard Library proudly presents: Learning Leopard Fractured Fairy Tales, created and performed by Johnson second grade students! Enjoy!