English

Day One

The children will be familiar with a number of traditional tales and fairy tales. Spend time finding out which ones they know and what they remember about them. They are usually confidently able to recall the characters and setting but often need a little help to recall the events in order. You could use the prompts below to help.

 

Begin with Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears; we have done a lot in school with these stories. You will find lots of stories online. Click HERE for a good website.  Alternatively, you could print some of the stories at the bottom of this page. They have comprehension questions attached which you could give your child if you wish. If your child speaks English as an additional language, you could spend time reading/telling them tales in their first language and talking about how they are similar to or different from the ones they know in English.

 

You could also try making your own funny fairy tales with THIS fairy tale generator. It is great fun for the children to see if they can spot the different tales that the events are taken from. Or you could print out and play the game below.

 

 

Day Two

This week we are going to look at some fairy tales that we haven't yet looked at in depth in school. Then we will use the film clip below to inspire our own fairy tale. To begin with, watch the clip below.

Discuss the film clip with your child. How does it make them feel? It may make them feel sad that the dancer cannot leave her tower. You could point out that she is happy in the end! What do they like and dislike about it? Do they have any questions or puzzles? What happens when she leaves the tower? How do we know her dancing is what makes the clock go? Will she have to stay in the tower now? Ask them about other stories that this one makes them think of (we call these connections). It has parallels with Rapunzel. If they do not immediately notice the link, you could ask them if they know any other stories where the character is stuck in a tower. 

After your discussion, ask your child to complete a 'Tell Me' (below) grid to record their thoughts. 

Day Three

Who is the dancer in the clock tower? How did she get there? Today, ask your child to draw the dancer and the tower. Discuss the questions and encourage them to think of other fairy tales to help them come up with ideas.

Click HERE to listen to Rapunzel (this version has some tricky language). Or click HERE to watch a video of it. The story part of the video is about 11 minutes long and then there are songs! Perhaps the same thing happened to the dancer in the tower? 

 

Day Four

In Rapunzel, a prince tries to rescue Rapunzel. Perhaps a prince will come and save the dancer? Perhaps they don't want her to be saved by a prince. In Hansel and Gretel, Gretel is clever. She solves her own problem and saves her brother. Click HERE to listen to Hansel and Gretel. Some children might find this version a little scary so HERE is a less scary video. 

 

Make up a story with your child about how the dancer will get out of the tower. You could listen to, or watch, lots of different fairy tales for inspiration. Some children may like to introduce an animal character. This is a fairy tale, so anything can happen! Help your child to tell the story verbally. For this story, they can use a traditional tale opener such as 'once upon a time' or 'long, long ago'. The children will be writing their story, so don't let them make it too complicated or they will run out of steam!

 

Below, you will find an example story which they could 'magpie' ideas from.

Day Five

Use the template below to create a story plan. They could draw or write a short version of the events of their story in each box. If this is tricky, you could write the events for them.  Some children might want to draw the main events in the top box and write a sentence about them in the bottom box. Below, you will also find an example plan for the example story. Next week, we will take our time to write the story.

Reading Comprehension

Below you will find some simple versions of traditional tales to read and enjoy. There are questions with each if you would like to try them with your child.