Name:____________________________

KWL chart
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
Whats the difference?
What I Know

What I Want to know

What I Learned

Name:____________________________

Expert Groups
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
Whats the difference?
1. Individual work: Read your information, take notes and put it in your own words.
2. In groups of four, share your information. Take notes.

Name:____________________________
The Text
Myth
Myths are made up stories that try to explain how our world works and how we
should treat each other. The stories are usually set in times long ago, before
history as we know it was written.People have always asked questions like How
did our world come to be? or Why do tornadoes happen? Some
myths answered these questions. In other myths, gods or super-beings used their
powers to make events happen. Or the stories were the adventures of gods,
goddesses, men and women.
These myths described the big things that happened to people and the choices they
made. They might be about triumph (achieving something), tragedy (losing
something), honour (doing the right thing), being brave even when you are
frightened, or being foolish and making mistakesAround the world, myths were
shared by groups of people and became part of their culture. Storytellers have
passed the stories on from generation to generation and through families. Myth
comes from the Greek word mythos which means word of mouth.

Legend

Folk/Fair
y Tale

Fable

Expert Groups
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
Whats the difference?

My notes

Name:____________________________
1. Individual work: Read your information, take notes and put it in your own words.
2. In groups of four, share your information. Take notes.
The Text

My notes

Myth

Legend

Legends are stories that have been made up. Legends are about people and their
actions or deeds. The people lived in more recent times and are mentioned in
history. The stories are told for a purpose and are based on facts, but they are not
completely true. Either the person never really did what the story says, or the
historical events were changed. The purpose was to make the story more interesting
or convincing, or to teach a lesson, like knowing right from wrong.
Examples of people in English legends are King Arthur, and Robin Hood. The
character and deeds of Robin Hood may have been based on someone else. Robin
of Loxley lived in Nottinghamshire around the time of the story, and he did help the
poor. But did he live in Nottingham forest with a band of robbers? Probably not, but
helping other people is important and the legend hasnt been forgotten.Like myths,
legends are passed down from generation to generation.

Folk/Fair
y Tale

Fable

Expert Groups
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
Whats the difference?
1. Individual work: Read your information, take notes and put it in your own words.

Name:____________________________
2. In groups of four, share your information. Take notes.
The Text

My notes

Myth

Legend

Folk/Fair
y tale

Fable

A fable is another type of story, also passed down from generation to generation and
told to teach a lesson about something.
Fables are about animals that can talk and act like people, or plants or forces of
nature like thunder or wind. The plants may be able to move and also talk and the
natural forces cause things to happen in the story because of their strength.
The most famous fables were written by a man called Aesop. We know them as
Aesops Fables, and he wrote more than 600 of them. A famous fable you may
know is how the Tortoise won a race against the Hare.

Expert Groups
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
Whats the difference?
1. Individual work: Read your information, take notes and put it in your own words.
2. In groups of four, share your information. Take notes.

Name:____________________________
The Text

My notes

Myth

Legend

Folk/Fair
y tale

Folk and fairy tales are stories written specially for children, often about magical
characters such as elves, fairies, goblins and giants. Sometimes the characters are
animals.
Hans Christian Andersen is famous for writing fairy tales. He was born in Denmark
in 1805. Examples of his stories are The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina and The
Red Shoes. In Copenhagen there is a statue of the little mermaid, sitting on a rock
on the beach at the harbour, in memory of the writer.
Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm were brothers, born in Germany in 1785 and 1786. They
are famous because they collected together many old fairy tales from different parts
of Germany and wrote them down for people to read. We know them as the
Brothers Grimm and their collection includes Cinderella and The Frog Prince.

Fable

Connect What You Know

Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
1. Read the titles and the endings.
2. Place the title from the word box in front of the ending.
3. Compare with a partner and see if you got the same answers.
Hansel & Gretel
Icarus

Prometheus How the Kangaroo got its tail

The Ugly Duckling

The Princess and the Pea Robin Hood How the Bear lost its tail Minotaur
The Sword in the Stone

The Little Red Riding hood

Name:____________________________
Tradition
Tale
Heroine/Hero
Exaggerate
Title

Realistic
Courage
Problem
Challenge
Imagination
Creative
Characters

Ideas, beliefs, that are passed down from

one generation to the next
A story, usually made up
Female/male main character, good
Describing something to be better or
larger than actually is
True to life, not fake
EndingDoing something that is hard or
Could dangerous
not sleep comfortably because there was a
Something
not100
going
right
pea underneath is
her
mattresses.
Doing something that is not easy
A brother
and sister who go deep into the forest,
Not real
and find
a house or
made
of candy
Imagination
original
ideas and cake with a
throughout
creepyAppear
old witch
inside.the
Dostory
they go in? Do they get
out? Who knows!?
Stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind.
The sword was taken out by a skinny and young
boy, despite the years of effort and failure that
had been done by strong knights.
After playing some tricks on smaller animals,
revenge was given to this bouncy animal.
Stole from the rich, to give to the poor.
Went to bring her grandmother some goods, and
to her surprise found a wolf.
A woman who opened a box because of her
curiosity.
Eating monster that belonged to king Minos.
After fishing in a frozen lake for a long time, this
big animal fell asleep and its tail snapped right
off!
A young duckling that used to get made fun of
when he was younger, and grew into the most
beautiful swan of all.
A boy who did not listen to his parents and flew
too close to the sun.

Connect What You Know

Vocabulary
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales

Name:____________________________

Create a sentence with the following words:

1) Realistic & Imagination
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2) Hero/Heroine & Characters
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3) Tale & Creative
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4) Tradition & Courage
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5) Exaggerate
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Name:____________________________
Comparison of Two Legends

How Eagle Man Created the Islands of the

Pacific Coast
By: C.J Taylor

The Spider Weaver

By: Tomio Nitto

Remember! A how or why

legend/myth answers a question.

Name:____________________________

Writing Your Own Legend/Myth

1) Pick from the list, or write your own (if you pick from the list, make sure to check it
off)
2) Write your first draft
3) Switch with a partner to correct
4) Write final draft
5) Share with the class
How
How
How
Why
Why
Why
How
How
Why
How
Why
How

the rainbow got its colours.

the clouds got into the sky.
the lion got its speed.
the snake has no legs.
fish live in the water.
the sky is blue.
Canada got snow.
the bird got its wings.
the frog leaps.
the duck got its quack.
the wolf howls at the moon.
the world got its oceans.

Peer Correction Checklist

(After first draft)
Corrections
I can read the handwriting.
Writing has periods/punctuation at the right places.
Writing has capital letters at the beginning of ALL sentences.
Writing is easy to understand.
Writing has a clear introduction.
Writing has a clear problem and solution.
Writing has a good closing/conclusion.
Notes:

Name:____________________________
Writing Your Own Legend/Myth
Rough Draft
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Writing Your Own Legend/Myth
Final Draft
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Name:____________________________
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TEACHER ONLY
ANSWER KEY
Connect What You Know
Myths, Legends, Fables, and Folk/Fairy Tales
The Princess and the Pea
Hansel and Gretel

Prometheus
The Sword in the Stone

How Kangaroo got its tail.

Robin Hood
The Little Red Riding Hood
Pandoras Box

Could not sleep comfortably because there

was a pea underneath her 100 mattresses.
A brother and sister who go deep into the
forest, and find a house made of candy and
cake with a creepy old witch inside. Do they
go in? Do they get out? Who knows!?
Stole fire from the gods and gave it to
mankind.
The sword was taken out by a skinny and
young boy, despite the years of effort and
failure that had been done by strong
knights.
After playing some tricks on smaller
animals, revenge was given to this bouncy
animal.
Stole from the rich, to give to the poor.
Went to bring her grandmother some
goods, and to her surprise found a wolf.
A woman who opened a box because of her

Name:____________________________

Minotaur
How the bear lost its tail.

The Ugly Duckling

Icarus

curiosity.
Eating monster that belonged to king
Minos.
After fishing in a frozen lake for a long
time, this big animal fell asleep and its tail
snapped right off!
A young duckling that used to get made fun
of when he was younger, and grew into the
most beautiful swan of all.
A boy who did not listen to his parents and
flew too close to the sun.