Traditional Literature

The Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Ginger Bread Man, Snow White And the Seven Dwarfs, Rumpelstiltskin etc. are wonderful traditional tales for students to read to each other or as a class.  Traditional literature are not only stories that expand out children's mind it helps children understand the personal dimension and standards of behavior of  a culture and the same time reduce stereotypes  It provides children with a framework for the literature, drama, and art they will later encounter, it provides entertainment and pleasure:children enjoy reading and hearing folk tales and it provides strong rhythm, rhyme and repetition of patterns.

As I was reading two things stood out to me. One is that folk tales are told in a numerous amount of ways for instance the Cinderella story has  700  different versions. Having the students explore different versions of Traditional Literature helps the student understand and except different cultures. Two was that Traditional literature can be taken beyond just reading in areas such as social studies, science and math.

One activity I would use in my classroom would be to have the student's write their own version of the following stories; Cinderella  The Ginger Bread Man, Three little pigs and Lion and the Mouse. Having students complete a fun and engaging writing assignment allows the student to feel comfortable and explore their own imagination when it comes to writing.

The following below are some of the different version of the Cinderella Story: