Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students are introduced to Anansi stories, trickster tales from Africa.  The children learn quite a bit of new vocabulary as well as something of the colorful patterns common to the culture.  They then use this new knowledge to build a word wall with Anansi-inspired spiders!

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

2-3

Objective:

Introduce children to Anansi tales.  Have the children make a class “Word Wall” with new vocabulary.

Suggested Time:

45-50 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each child will listen to two or three Anansi tales and make two or three “spiders” for the Word Wall.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Review characteristics of folktales from the lesson on “The Drum, A Folktale from India”.  They are:

• The author is not known. Folktakes come from an oral tradition.
• Folktales are also very old stories handed down from generation to generation.
• Folktales reflect and pass on the culture and values of the community they come from.

Present the vocabulary list for this lesson.  The kids won’t understand the words, yet, but have the words on a flipchart-sized piece of paper or on the board.

2. Main:

Teach Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti.

Begin by reading the foreword and having the class check off words from the vocabulary list as they hear them.   This helps them “tune in” to the vocabulary they will hear throughout the lesson and that they will need to discuss the Anansi stories.

Teach Anansi and the Bag of Wisdom.

Teach Anansi Does the Impossible.

Discuss and check for understanding.

Tell the children that they will make a word wall using some of the vocabulary.  But, their word papers need a colorful, patterned spider!

Teach the children how to draw a cartoon spider.  Be sure to use simple language as shown in the YouTube video (link below).  “Two V’s” for the teeth.  “Number three” for the tongue.  Eight “L shapes” for the legs.

Put up the web and let the kids place their spiders on the web.  The web will be filled in no time!

3. Conclusion:

Let the kids admire their work.  Emphasize how much fun it is to read folktales.  Challenge them to read folktales from other cultures and share their learning with you in the next class.

additional Resources:

1. Anansi vocabulary word list. (Found below)
2. Three Anansi tales. (See Recommended Texts below.)
3. Spider web made from a garbage bag. (Follow the instructions in the link below.)
4. Word Wall slips of paper prepared for the children. On the front, draw a dark black line below which they will write one of the vocabulary words.  If you want to be sure that all the words are used, lightly pencil in a word on the back of the first set of papers.  Children should rewrite the word on the front, in dark ink, below the line.  That way, each word will be used once.  For their second and third spiders, the kids can choose which words they want to use. (See photo of spiders with their vocabulary words.)
5. Pencils and colored pencils
6. Pictures of Ghanan Kente cloth with colorful patterns (optional)

Notes:

You must learn how to draw a simple spider before this lesson.  I like this one:  How to Draw a Cartoon Spider – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk1Z-mcaRlQ

You also need to make at least one, but preferably two garbage-bag spider webs.  You can make a spider web out of yarn or other materials, I just found the garbage bag webs the fastest.  Find instructions here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVtO1-yRkDQ

Be prepared for a lot of enthusiasm.  Kids love making the spiders!  Try to teach this lesson in the classroom or near a display board.  If the teacher is not in the lesson, the kids will have a fun time covering the wall in spiders as a trick on the teacher.  That works well, because Anansi is a Trickster and his stories are Trickster Tales.

Key Terms:

Anansi, Ghana, Trickster Tales, Spiders, Ashanti, Weavers, Kente Cloth, Patterns

RECOMMENDED TEXTS:

1. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti.  Retold by Gerald McDermott.
2. Anansi and the Bag of Wisdom. Retold by Leslie Sims.
3. Anansi Does the Impossible. Retold by Verna Aardema.

Vocabulary for Anansi Lesson:

1	story	13	culture
2	folklore	14	adventure
3	oral	15	wisdom
4	Africa	16	weavers
5	spider	17	traditional
6	retold	18	web
7	art	19	Ashanti
8	folktale	20	patterns
9	trouble	21	Ghana
10	symbols	22	trickster
11	Anansi	23	mischief
12	rogue

STUDENT WORK SAMPLE:

Anansi Spider Words

COMPLETED SAMPLE ANANSI WORD WALL:

Anansi Word Wall

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students learn an ancient Indian folktale.  They also practice story mapping, identify the story pattern, and write their own class folktale.  It’s a fun, engaging, and interesting lesson for the children with a multicultural element.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

2-3

Objective:

To map an Indian folktale, “The Drum”.  To experience folktales from world cultures as part of the ancient civilizations unit.

Suggested Time:

40-50 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each student will successfully map the circular folktake, “The Drum”.  Students will then, working together as a class, craft their own folktale using the same pattern.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Review the three main characteristics of fables from last week’s lesson.

• Very short
• Have a moral
• Use animals or sometimes objects as characters (personification)

Folktales are slightly different.  For folktales:

• The author is not known. Folktales come from an oral tradition.
• Folktales are also very old stories handed down from generation to generation.
• Folktales reflect and pass on the culture and values of the community they come from.

2. Main:

Part 1:  Read/Teach “The Drum”.  Each student will make a capture sheet to show that they understand the circular structure of the story.

Scribe the story map so that the children have a guide for their own maps.  Emphasize that the drawings should be quick and simple sketches, just to capture the idea.  (See photo).

Ask the children the following questions to check for understanding:

• When the story started, what did the boy want?  Answer:  A drum

• When the story ended, what did the boy have?  Answer:  A drum

• Looking at the story map, what is the structure of this story?  Answer:  A circle.   Point out that many stories do have a circular or “chain” structure.

• What elements of the PYP Learner profile can you see in the boy?  Answer:  Will vary, but definitely Caring.
• The old man said that the stick might have magic in it.  What do you think?  Was the stick magic?  Answer:  The boy received his wish because he was kind, caring, and giving to others.  The “magic” was his kindness.

Part 2:  As a class, quickly brainstorm a new folktale with a circular structure.  Here is an example of one that one of my classes came up with in about three minutes:

• There was once a poor girl who wanted a new dress. Her father could not afford one, but on his way back from market he picked up a stone from the side of the road.
• The girl took the stone and went out to play. Soon she came to a family building a fire pit.  They needed a stone to complete the job.  She gave them her stone, and in return they thanked her by giving her a fish they had caught in the river early that morning.
• The girl took the fish and continued on her way. Soon she came to a family with a hungry child.  She gave them the fish to feed the child, and in return they gave her a mat they had woven.
• With the mat, the girl continued on her way. She met a family with a baby.  They needed to lay the baby down for a nap, but they did not want to place the baby on the dirt floor of their home.  The girl happily gave them the mat.  They thanked her by giving her a pair of trousers.
• Arriving in the next village, the girl noticed a seamstress in a shop working feverishly to make trousers. The girl asked her why she was working so hard to sew trousers. The seamstress said that the men of the village were building a school and that their work clothes were worn.  The girl gave the seamstress the trousers.  To thank her for the trousers, the seamstress gave the girl a new dress from her shop.

Story Circle:  Dress – Stone – Fish – Mat – Hat – Dress

3. Conclusion:

If you looked at your notes, could you tell either of the stories again?   Look for the circle pattern in other stories.

ADDITIONAL Resources:

1. The Drum: A Folktake from India.  Retold by  by Tom Wrenn and Rob Cleveland
2. Flipchart paper and markers to scribe the story map for the class
3. Clipboards
4. Pencils
5. Blank Paper in a literacy or writer’s notebook

Notes:

Kids quickly pick up on the pattern of receiving and giving.  They like to guess what is coming next, and they are very proud when they can look back at their story map and retell the story.  This is really an excellent lesson for literature (folktales) with a strong Unit of Inquiry tie.  Many folktales can be story-mapped, but my schools have always had a sizeable population from India, and so I like to use the Indian folktale.

Key Terms:

India, Folktales, Indian Folktales, Kindness, Caring, Drums

RECOMMENDED TEXT:

1. The Drum: A Folktake from India.  Retold by  by Tom Wrenn and Rob Cleveland.

STORY MAP:

Drum Story Map

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students will have an introduction to fables.  They will learn what a fable is, characteristics of fables, and make a few notes and sketches so that they can retell the fables.  Many kids have heard of, for example, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” but most have not yet understood that the story is part of a special type of literature.  The kids are always eager to work out the moral!  Lots of new understanding seems to happen in this lesson, a wonderful literature tie to the ancient civilization unit.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

2-3

Objectives:

• To name three characteristics of fables.
• To capture three traditional Aesop’s fables.
• To experience folktales from world cultures as part of the ancient civilizations unit.

(AASL 4.1.3: Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.)

Suggested Time:

40-50 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each child will make a simple sketch to capture the idea of each fable.  Each child will record the moral of each fable.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Ask who has heard of a person named “Aesop”.  Write “Aesop” on the board.  Guess which ancient civilization Aesop lived in?  (Answer:  Ancient Greece)

Show an image of Aesop.

Aesop wrote a special kind of story called a fable.  A fable:

• Is very short! Usually just one or two paragraphs.
• Uses animals or objects as characters.  (Note: You can teach personification, but I usually leave that out when working with early elementary.  It is enough to say that the animals represent people.)
• Teaches a lesson or moral.

Today we will listen to and capture three of Aesop’s most popular fables.

2. Main:

Read/Teach the fables.    Each student will make a capture sheet to show that they understand the morals of the stories.

Usually I teach:

• The Tortoise and the Hare (Moral: Slow and Steady Wins the Race.)
• The Lion and the Mouse (Moral: Little Friends May Prove to be Great Friends.)
• The Crow and the Pitcher (Moral: Necessity is the Mother of Invention.)

Do not tell the children the morals.  Let them work together to figure it out.

Make sure you emphasize to the children that the sketch part of the exercise is only to capture the idea – this is not an art project!  I usually draw a “5-second tortoise” or a “5-second mouse” to show how a few, simple, no-fuss lines will help you get the idea without worrying about the art!

3. Conclusion:

If you looked at your notes, could you tell the story again?   What is special about this story?  What is the main message of this story?

Give them a challenge to read and share more fables!

additional Resources:

1. A copy of Aesop’s Fables. I prefer Mice, Morals, and Monkey Business by Christopher Wormell.
2. Pencils
3. Clipboards
4. Copies of Student Handout (see attached)

Notes:

Many children have heard at least one of the fables before, but most do not know that they are attributed to Aesop or that the stories are over 2,500 years old.  The lesson generally generates a lot of enthusiasm and the desire to learn more fables.

You can find free digital e-book and audio book versions of the fables at:  http://www.loyalbooks.com/book/aesops-fables-volume-1-fables-1-25

Key Words:

Aesop, Fables, Morals, Ancient Greece

RECOMMENDED TEXT:

1. Mice, Morals, and Monkey Business by Christopher Wormell.

STUDENT HANDOUT:

Student Handout, Aesop’s Fables

STUDENT work SAMPLe

Student Work Sample, Aesop’s Fables