900 Cinderellas Unit
Ms. jolly’s 7th grade L.A.Class
Did you know there are Cinderella stories in almost every culture around the world? In this unit (February 5 to approx. Spring Break), we will study the "cinderella" character, in all her variety, as she has changed across cultures and over time (and continues to change!). We will be using the textbook,Elements of Literature, for this unit. Textbooks reside in the classroom and I have one class set. Textbooks cannot be checked out, but you are welcome to come in before or after school or at lunch if you need to do more research or if you have missed a story because of absence.
Stories:
"Achenputtel", Germany, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
"The Algonquin Cinderella", Eastern United States, retold by M.R. Cox
"Yeh-Shen", China, retold by Ai-Ling Louie
"Oni and the Great Bird", West Africa, retold by Abayomi Fuja
"Master Frog", Vietnam, retold by Lynette Dyer Vuong
"Sealskin, Soulskin", Alaska, retold by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
"Judge Rabbit and the Tree Spirit", Cambodia, retold by Lina Mao Wall
"The Hummingbird King", Mayan, retold by Argentina Palacios
I will also read aloud each day from the novel,Cinderby Marissa Meyer, which is a futuristic re-telling of the Cinderella tale.In addition, we MAY watch the movie, "The Secret of Roan Inish" and compare it to the cinderella stories we have read.
Each story will have a packet associated with it. This packet will include exercises in literary terms, spelling, vocabulary and proofreading. Packets will be uploaded to my website for each story and will be due one day after we complete each story. There will be aUnit Testat the end of this unit based on the stories and on these packets.
Concepts covered in this unit will include:
Motif
Universal Truths
Character Types
Point of View
Conflict Resolution
Summarizing
Personification
Compare/Contrast
Cultural Diversity
Projectsfor this unit will include the following:
1. Group Project: Create and present a Power Point that compares/contrasts two different Cinderella stories. This project will be due at the end of theunit, which I predict will be the Wednesday before Spring Break and class time WILL be provided.
2. Writing Assignment:
You will have the choice of three different writing assignments for this unit. Lessons and pre-writes for each will be provided in class. You may write:
a. Character Letter - assume the point of view of a character and write a letter to another character from that character's point of view.
b. Editorial - write an editorial about the Cinderella story or
c. Characterization- tell how you are like one of the characters from one of the stories
3. Unit Test:At the end of the unit, there will be a test based on the stories and packets from the unit.
Just for FUN(and extra credit):
1. You may bring a Cinderella story to class that is not included in the unit and read it to us for 10 pts.
2. You may go to readwritethink.org and create a Fractured Fairy Tale - See my Helpful Resources page for the link - for 25 pts.