This week, the children have started a new unit in English about Traditional Tales.
Traditional Tales are stories that have been told and retold for many years. Often they are passed down through generations. Therefore, they become a story that many people know. There are often lots of different versions of the same story. Traditional Tales are also known as Fairy Stories or Fairy Tales.
We started our week by looking at the features of a Traditional Tale. The features of a Traditional Tale are:
Opening – Story language such as “Once upon a time….”, “Long, long, ago….”, “In a land far, far away….”
Theme – Common themes include magic, love, talking animals, Good vs. Bad and “they all lived happily ever after”.
Setting – This is where the story takes place. Popular settings include a magical kingdom, a land far, far away, a castle, the woods, a forest and a cottage.
Here a some questions you may like to try and answer. Why not ask your child to see if they know the answer?
Q1. Can you name this Traditional Tale?
Clue 1 – It’s a tale about a beautiful princess and her evil stepmother the Queen…
Clue 2 – She went to live with 7 dwarves in a cottage…
Clue 3 – She was poisoned by an apple but was woken up by a kiss from a handsome prince…
Q2. Can you name this Traditional Tale character?
Clue 1 – It’s an animal…
Clue 2 – He’s got sharp teeth…
Clue 3 – He’s got big eyes…
Clue 4 – He likes to eat grandmas and little girls…
We have finished the week by looking at characters from Little Red Riding Hood (LLRH) and using adjectives to describe these characters.
Q3. Which character were the children describing from LRRH?
a) gentle, caring, friendly, scared?
b) sneaky, scary, mean, hungry?
c) brave, strong, kind, helpful?
d) old, afraid, frail, weak?
The children have done a fantastic job this week and we’re looking forward to our second week on Traditional Tales. Next week, the children will have the chance to look at particular characters in a given setting and then produce a descriptive piece of narrative writing about their character. If you’re able to, perhaps you could share a favourite Traditional Tale with your child over the coming days to help get them thinking about what they might like to write.
Thank you for your continued support,
Mr French and Miss Swinburne.
