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Fractured Fairytales Curriculum Unit

Kailey Davis

Grades 2-3

Reading
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Table of Contents

Overview 3
Rationale
Unit Topic
New Literacy Practices
Standards/Objectives

Unit Timeline . 5

Instruction .. 5
Daily Instructional Plan

Assessment Plan . 9
Rubric

Materials and Resources .. 12

References .12
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Overview

Rationale

Next school year, my Special Education resource classroom will be comprised of eight

students from second to fourth grade. However, due to scheduling and student needs, I will be

completing this unit with my second and third graders. As far as instruction goes, there will be a

35 minute block each day where my fourth grade students are at a special, allowing me time with

just my second and third graders. This means that my fourth graders will not miss out on

instruction, but instead they will receive their reading instruction at a different time in the day

that will allow me to focus on their needs and grade-level standards.

My second and third grade students are all reading at a Fountas and Pinnell level ranging

from first to second grade. They have similar reading IEP goals including decoding magic E

words, sequencing, and retelling a story. A unit on fractured fairytales will help my students

achieve proficiency in grade level standards while also holding their engagement and working on

their personal IEP goals. Going through this unit, my students will practice sequencing and

retelling, in which I can collect data to progress monitor. By sequencing and retelling events, my

students will use the story elements to help them do so. The ultimate objective of this unit,

comparing the story elements from the fairytales read, will help them achieve grade level

standards.

My lessons, over the course of the nine planned instructional days, follow a predictable

routine. This is in the best interest for some of my students who do not adjust well to change and

do best with routines established from the beginning.

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Unit Topic

Students will engage in comparing fairytales, more specifically they will compare the

traditional fairytale to an adapted or fractured version of that same fairytale. During this unit,

students will be looking at story elements like characters, setting, problem, and solution. For

each story they listen to or watch, they will analyze the story elements and then compare it to the

matching fractured fairytale.

New Literacy Practices

This unit plan incorporates the four New Literacy Practices. Situated practice is making

my instruction relevant to my students. Overt instruction is the skill I am explicitly teaching my

students. For this unit, the overt instruction will be how to compare two similar stories referring

to the story elements. Critical framing refers to what my students will be critiquing and

analyzing. Although they will not be analyzing real world events, my students will be analyzing

traditional and fractured fairy tales to identify the similarities and differences. Transformed

practice is a term used to explain how students will show their knowledge. My students will

show their proficiency in comparing similar stories through drawing, vent diagrams, other

graphic organizers, and sentence stems to write out their comparisons.

Standards and Objectives

By the end of this reading unit, my students will be able to confidently say, I can

compare and contrast the story elements of two different stories. Both my second and third

grade students will be working toward proficiency in similar standards of reading literature,

specifically the integration of knowledge and ideas. The second grade standard we are focusing
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on is RL.2.9, to compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors

or from different cultures. The third grade standard we are focusing on is RL.3.9, to compare

and contrast the themes, setting, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or

similar characters.

Unit Timeline

This fractured fairytale unit will last nine school days, assuming their are no interruptions

from assemblies or special events. Monday through Friday, we will work on this unit for 35

minutes each day during our small group reading block. Being in a resource room allows for

more freedom to slow down and extend my unit depending on student understanding. It is

important to note that the timeline is tentative and can be adjusted as necessary.

Instruction

The table below reflects the tentative instructional plan for this unit. The books are

subject to change depending on what the students are familiar with. The pre-assessment will be

with a book that all students know; in the plan, it says Cinderella will be used in the pre-

assessment, but that may change based off students prior knowledge. The term read aloud

may take the form of a traditional teacher read aloud with a printed text and bound book or may

be a YouTube read aloud. This will allow a small change to keep the students engaged. Some of

the teaching strategies that will be used during this instructional block for this unit include

building background knowledge for each book read, explaining key vocabulary as needed,

partner and whole group discussions, I Do-We Do-You Do scaffolding, and questioning

throughout the reading.

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Day Overview Assessment Materials

1 Gather basic info, see what the N/A Anchor chart on

students know fairytale
What is a fairytale? Anchor chart on
List characteristics of a fractured
fairytale fairytale
What fairytales do we already
know?

What is a fractured fairytale?

Similar, but different in some
ways

Show students the fairytales we will be

reading together

Students will acknowledge which

stories they are familiar with (for pre-
assessment purposes)

2 Pre-assessment Comparison pre- Comparison

Read Cinderella aloud assessment on both pre-assessment
Give students time to draw/ stories story elements (draw or write)
write story elements *use this to guide
instruction
Read OMG, Cinderella is so
Annoying
Give students time to draw/
write story elements

Compare both stories through drawing
or writing

3 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Venn diagram

stories participation post its

Read Three Little Pigs aloud Critical framing -
Draw/write story elements analyzing the text
together

Read No Lie, Pigs (and their Houses)
can Fly!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through venn

diagram; students will get to write or
draw on post its to put onto their venn
diagram
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4 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Venn diagram

stories participation post its

Read Little Red Riding Hood aloud Critical framing -
Draw/write story elements analyzing the text
together

Read Honestly, Red Riding Hood was

Rotten!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through venn
diagram; students will get to write or
draw on post its to put onto the venn
diagram

5 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Comparison graphic

stories participation organizer

Read Little Mermaid aloud Critical framing -
Draw/write story elements analyzing the text
together

Read No Kidding, Mermaids are a

Joke!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through graphic

organizer

6 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Comparison graphic

stories participation organizer

Read Jack and the Beanstalk aloud Critical framing -
Draw/write story elements analyzing the text
together

Read Trust Me, Jacks Beanstalk
Stinks!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through graphic
organizer
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7 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Sentence stems sheet

stories participation

Read Goldilocks and the Three Bears Critical framing -
aloud analyzing the text
Draw/write story elements
together

Read Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through sentence

stems

8 Overt Instruction on comparing Formative - Sentence stems sheet

stories participation

Read The Frog Prince aloud Critical framing -
Draw/write story elements analyzing the text
together

Read Frankly, I Never Wanted to Kiss

Anybody!
Draw/write story elements
together

Teach comparison through sentence

stems

Allow students to look at remaining
books; they will choose which books
they want to read and compare.
*Teacher will make groupings based
on student preference*
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9 Summative assessment on Summative assessment Venn diagram

comparing stories on comparing
Comparison
Possible choices for students: Transformed Practice: graphic
1. Beauty and the Beast students will choose organizer
No Lie, I Acted Like a Beast! how they want to
compare the stories -- Sentence
2. Rapunzel through venn diagram, stems sheet
Really, Rapunzel Needed a Haircut graphic organizer, or
sentence stems
3. Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves
Seriously, Snow White was so
Forgetful

Students will compare stories

independently while being pulled into
a small group for teacher to read books
aloud

Assessments

Assessments will be administered throughout the unit, starting with a pre-assessment.

The pre-assessment will have students analyzing a familiar fairytale for its story elements.

Students will be asked to identify the main characters, setting, problem, and solution. Students

will also identify the story elements for the storys matching fractured fairytale. Without

instruction, they will compare both stories through writing or drawing. The students will identify

story elements and compare independently, but both stories will be read aloud due to my students

having difficulty with reading. Taking out the reading portion will allow my students to focus

purely on the story itself, rather than becoming exhausted with decoding and trying to make

sense of the words. This pre-assessment will show me what students know about story elements,

if they know how to compare, and how they can convey their thoughts through drawing or

writing.
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Formative assessments will be in the form of discussion participation. After reading

stories, the class will participate in book discussions to identify the story elements. Facilitating

the class discussion will allow me to see if the students are understanding the elements and how

to compare.

The summative assessment is similar to the pre-assessment and will require students to

identify story elements and compare two similar fairytales. The summative assessment will

allow student choice in what they will focus on and how they show what they learned. Over the

course of this unit, students will be shown how to compare stories through various ways: venn

diagrams, graphic organizers, and sentence stems. For this assessment, students will choose

which route they want to take when showing their knowledge based off their personal preference.

Students will also be given a list of three fairytales that were not read together as a class and they

will choose with pair of fairytales they want to use for their assessment. Again, the stories will

be read aloud, in book-based groups, to allow students to put more of their energy into

comparing rather than decoding. The summative assessment will show me what all of my

students have learned during the unit.

Rubrics

Story elements for each story

Fabulous Almost There Not Quite

Setting Correctly and clearly Correctly identified Incorrectly identified

identified setting
setting - clarification setting;

needed

Could not identify the

setting

/2 /1 /0
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Characters Correctly and clearly Correctly identified at Incorrectly identified

identified all the main least 1 character
characters;

characters

Could not identify any

main characters

/2 /1 /0

Problem Correctly and clearly Correctly identified the Incorrectly identified

identified the problem
problem - clarification problem;

needed

Could not identify

problem

/2 /1 /0

Solution Correctly and clearly Correctly identified the Incorrectly identified

identified solution
solution - clarification solution;

needed

Could not identify

solution

/2 /1 /0

Comparison on both stories

Fabulous Almost There Not Quite

Comparison
ALL similarities are At least 60% of Less than 60% of
(Similarities)
identified
similarities are identified
similarities are
identified;

setting

characters
Could not identify any
problem
similarities

solution
/2 /1 /0

Contrast
ALL dierences are At least 60% of Less than 60% of
(Dierences)
identified
dierences are dierences are
identified
identified;

setting

characters
Could not identify any
problem
dierences

solution
/2 /1 /0
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Materials and Resources

Anchor chart on fairytale

Anchor chart on fractured fairytale
Venn diagram
Post its
Comparison graphic organizer
Sentence stems sheet

Instruction -
1. Cinderella
1. OMG, Cinderella is so Annoying! by Trisha Shashkan
2. Three Little Pigs
1. No Lie, Pigs (and their Houses) can Fly! by Jessica Gunderson
3. Little Red Riding Hood
1. Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten! by Trisha Shashkan
4. The Little Mermaid
1. No Kidding, Mermaids are a Joke! by Nancy Loewen
5. Jack and the Beanstalk
1. Trust Me, Jacks Beanstalk Stinks! by
6. Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1. Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!
7. The Frog Prince
1. Frankly, I Never Wanted to Kiss Anybody!

Assessment - (students will choose a set to compare on their own)

1. Beauty and the Beast
1. No Lie, I Acted Like a Beast!
2. Rapunzel
1. Really, Rapunzel Needed a Haircut
3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
1. Seriously, Snow White was so Forgetful

References

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000).Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social

futures. Psychology Press.