2 weeks
Information on fairy tales in general
Egyptian Fairy Tales (see Bibliography)
Information on the backgrounds of some of the fairy tales
Readers theaters (converting a story into a play) for some of the fairy tales
Supplies needed to make paper
Supplies needed for binding a book
Throne for the children to sit on to read created tales
Pharaoh costume for children to wear when reading tales
Process
Week one: The children will begin the week (day one) with a discussion on what a fairy tale means. Children will talk about what they know about fairy tales, and teacher will teach the children about fairy tales that the children already know, i.e. Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, etc... The teacher will read these well-known fairy tales outloud to the class. Next, the teacher will read the Egyptian Cinderella outloud, and the class will help the teacher create a Venn Diagram on the board about the similarities of the version of Cinderella that the children already know compared to the Egyptian Cinderella. On day two, the children will be given background information about some of the fairy tales that the children will read. The children will be asked to read some information on the gods and goddess of Ancient Egypt, and about the animals present in Egypt. After reading this information, the children will answer questions posed by the teacher. Such questions could be, "What are these people (Osiris and Isis) the god and goddess of?" "What are several animals that can be found in Egypt?" Next, the teacher will go over the main points that makes a story a fairy tale with the children, asking them for answers to what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale. These answers will be written down on the board for the children to see. Then, the chidlren will read silently several more Egyptian fairy tales.
Day Three: The children will discuss the parts that make a story a fairy tale once again. The teacher will then create a list on the board from answers given by the children on what makes a fairy tale and Egyptian Fairy Tale. This list will be discussed after it is created, and the children will be asked to decide what characters they would like to make a story about. With these characters in mind, the chidlren will discuss with the teacher what they think is necessary to make a story. The Teacher will ask questions like "if you were going to write a book for a first grader, what do you think that first grader would find interesting about the book?" Answers will be guided toward bright pictures, simple words, and an interesting story line. Other answers will also be listed and discussed. Children will then be asked to write a rough draft of the story that they want to write.
Day four: The teacher will have the children help her come up with a list of important things needed when writing a story for others to read. For example: Every sentence should begin with a capital letter. Every question should end with a question mark. etc..These rules should be written on the board where the children can review them when writing and rewriting their stories. Children will continue to write, and will begin to revise their rough drafts of their fairy tales. This day will be a writing workshop day, in which the children will continue to revise their stories through conferences with the teacher to get them to be comprehendable fairy tales. (The Reading and Writing In Elementary Classrooms text book available from Longman Publishers Co, NY: 1995k, third edition, has many great guidelines for classroom editing and publishing).
Day Five: The children will make the paper with the teacher (this is a long process, just to make a little bit of paper, so this step can be elimintated if little time is available). After much paper has been made, it will be set aside to dry over the weekend. The children and teacher together will then figure out how many words will be put on each page in their story. Next, the chidlren will dreaw their pictures to along with their fairy tales. These pictures will be finalized, and when the time comes, will be cut out and pasted to the paper that they made.
Day six: The children will slowly work on the paper that they had made before the weekend, by writing out their stories in the best hand writing, and then pasting the picutres to the correct pages. This will take a while, and will use much paper, so be sure that plenty was made before the weekend. Teacher may need to make some more over the weekend to have enough for mistakes.
Day Seven: The children will then, with the help of the teacher, bind their books. This activity will take time. The book covers will be made as well with a picture and a title, both created by the child.
Day Eight: Thrones that the pharaohs had sat upon will be discussed, and read about. Then the children will help the teacher create a throne for the children to sit upon when reading their stories to their classmates and to other classes. This project will take all day, and should be done outside.
Day Nine: The clothing worn by the pharaohs discussed by the class. The children will then help the teacher create a pharaoh costume (clothing and hat) to be worn by the child sitting on the throne. After the clothing has been designed, the teacher will talk to the children about reading aloud to a group. The children will help create a list about the important things one needs to do when reading to a group to hold attention. These such things are the inflection in the tone of voice (will be explained in a way that children can understand), showing the picuters to everyone as one reads along, etc... This list will be placed so that the person reaidng will be able to look at them to remember what to do.
Day Ten: Today each child will get a chance to dress up in the pharaoh's costume and site on the throne. The child will read his or her story to the class, and perhaps to visiting classes. The children will be split up into two groups. Half of the class will go on one day, and the next day, the other half will go, to hopefully alleviate restlessness from the class. The children who have trouble reading outloud, will be coached to do so, or they can choose someone else to read for them if it is a real problem for them to read to the group. This way all children in the room will be able to share what they have written.
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