Myths, Folktales, and Fairy Tales

Reviewed By Jennifer Smith

Myths, Folktales, and Fairy Tales http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/index.htm

Scholastic has created a wonderful interactive online project involving myths, folktales and fairy tales. It is set up for three different grade levels – 5-8 (Myths), 3-6 (Folktales) and 1-3 (Fairy Tales). Students have the opportunity to read examples of the genres from various countries, they interact with real, live authors of these genres, and get to write their own examples.

The teacher’s guide (http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mff_tguide.htm) is incredible. It provides descriptions of the project, assessment rubrics, learning objectives, components of the project, cross-curricular extensions, and related resources. It is also correlated to national standards.

Students are taken step by step through definitions and examples of each genre. Real Audio clips of the authors telling stories are included. Students are then guided in writing their own myths, folktales, or fairy tales. They are given an opportunity to publish their work on the site.

The modules are very well written and would be great to work with a group of students or to allow students to work at their own pace in stations although the fairy tale unit is really more teacher information than student. Interaction with famous authors adds interest to the unit. When the unit was initially presented, online interviews with the authors were held. Now, the transcripts of those interviews are available with questions from students.

The site is easily accessible. It loads fairly quickly but is graphic intense. It is very colorful and eye-catching. The print is small but readable.

This is a great resource for a writing/reading workshop. Students are exposed to various genre and the writers of those genre. They are then guided through the writing process and given a great opportunity to publish their work (a big incentive for most kids). The site provides almost all the materials needed for the lesson, and the format is quite user-friendly.

Reviewed By: Michele Lacina

This is an Internet project that Scholastic is hosting. This is a valuable site to educators and students alike. Scholastic Corporation is highly thought of and well known globally. Their development of books that relate to curriculum, as well as publishing books for pleasure, reaches many countries. This site has stories from authors around the world and gives credit accordingly. The Myth section has interviews with known authors as well as myths from all parts of the earth. It is recommended for students and teachers involved in the fifth through eighth grades. In the Folktales division, one can create and publish their tales. The grade suggestion for this part is grades three through six. The Fairy Tales portion highlights the discovery of fairy tales and one can publish a story on this link as well. People involved in grades one through three will enjoy this link. There is a Scholastic recommendation link. This, with the teacher’s link to lesson ideas, makes integrating storytelling into curriculum an easy task. In addition, there is a free online storytelling workshop. Lastly, this is a great site to encourage students to become and develop their storytelling abilities.