1. Paul Bunyan and John Henry
Compare and contrast: settings, characters, points of view

2. Paul Bunyan

3. Communication Pictures

4. Adapted Text http://www.ric.edu/sherlockcenter/dsi/bunyan.pdf
Wonder Works also has a great Paul Bunyan story!

5. Characters Who are the main Characters in this story?
Describe Paul Bunyan
Is he big, small, tall, short, strong, weak? Etc.
Describe his pet
What color is he?  What kind of animal? Etc. 

6. Settings Where do Paul Bunyan and Babe travel?
What do they make on their way? 

7. John Henry

8. John Henry
Video read-a-loud of John Henry

9. Communication Pictures

10. Characters Who is the main Character? Describe John Henry
What does he look like?
What does he do?
What does he always have with him? 
etc

11. Settings Where did John Henry work? What did he help build?
Where did he live? 

12. Compare and Contrast
Make a Venn diagram on the board for Characters and Settings
Compare and contrast both

13. Point of View
What did the author think about Paul Bunyan? What do you think about Paul Bunyan? Do you and the author think the same or differently about Paul Bunyan? 
 Ask you friend what are characteristics that Paul Bunyan has. Ask a teacher what are characteristics that Paul Bunyan has. Do you friend and your teacher think Paul Bunyan has the same or different characteristics?
Do the same activity with John Henry 

14. Extension Activities
Persuasive Writing Introduce a Claim and provide a reason or evidence to support. Example: Write about which version/story about Paul Bunyan is the best. (Use evidence from the text to support opinion).
Claim 4: Conduct Research to Answer a Question: Have students pick a tall tale they would like to research. They need to answer the question: Why couldn’t this tall tale happen in real life? They need to find evidence to support that certain aspects of the story could not happen in real life.
Examples of Tall Tales:
Bear Lake Monster:
  html Jack and the Corn Stalk: .html Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado: do.html Johnny Appleseed, Annie Oakley, Davie Crocket, John Henry