Fairy Tales in the Classroom By: Kathryn Bryant

Fairy tales create a stereotype which says that a woman’s youthful appearance is her most important trait. This portrays women as defenseless and mainly worried about love and appearance.

Fairy Tales Were originally written for adults Were adapted to be suited for children during the nineteenth century Grabbed the attention of both children and adults when Walt Disney made movies that portrayed magic and happily ever after This is probably one of the main reasons why fairy tales are so grim. They were written for an adult audience who could handle evil and gore. Fairy tales became popular for children when Walt Disney turned the grim stories into fun-loving movies always having a happy ending.

Fairy Tales are Important To the necessity of a child’s developmental stages To teach children about real life situations To teach children lessons of good versus bad According to research, 25% of parents recently surveyed said they wouldn’t read fairy tales to a child under five years old because they didn’t teach a good lesson or were too scary They help children prepare for the real world They teach children strengths and weaknesses such as good and evil or rich and poor

Children Need Fairy Tales To learn how to handle problems To build emotional resiliency To learn about diverse cultures Children can sometimes relate to the problems or fears that the fairy tales describe and learn to overcome these problems Children need to learn that bad things may happen and how to overcome these situations. Many cultures share common fairy tales such as Cinderella, but with their own flavor of diversity. Children can share their thoughts about the different cultures and each child may be able to bring something different to the discussion.

Fairy Tales in the Classroom Teach children literary elements, such as setting, plot, characters, and fiction and non-fiction Enhance children's critical thinking skills Broaden children's vocabulary This is an important aspect for children to learn. Once children become familiar with these, they will have a better understanding of what a story really is. Fairy tales are a great way to guide children to think beyond what they have read. The original fairy tales use large words with deep meaning. Children will have to learn the vocabulary or use context clues to decipher the meaning of the words

Using Fairy Tales in the Classroom Teaches creative writing by using critical thinking skills Teaches shared and guided reading Teaches strategies such as “Think- Pair-Share” Fairy tales let children use their imagination which can be used in creative writing. A teacher can read a fairy tale and have the children write an alternate ending or write their own fairy tale. Children can take turns reading the story aloud during class. The teacher can stop to discuss and ask questions periodically. Reading aloud will help students become better readers and learn new vocabulary words. Students are given a topic or question to think about, they pair up with a partner or group to discuss then they share their thoughts with the whole class. This teaches collaboration and communication.

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein

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