First Grade has been learning about folktales! Our favorite was “The Mitten”. We read many different versions of this old folktale and then we compared and contrasted the literary details. Each story had different animals that insisted on using the mitten as a warm sleeping bag! In almost every book a small animal who came in last was the one that made the mitten, “POP!” Our favorite version was by beloved children’s author, Jan Brett. In that story a bear sneezes and animals fly in all directions, while the young boy still finds his missing snow white mitten. We also read the folktale “The Gingerbread Man” and “Hansel & Gretel”.
Sometimes a folktale teaches a lesson. We learned that folktales are fiction stories that have been passed down for many years, usually by storytelling. Many cultures have timeless folktales that still hold meaning and are still changing a little as people share them with a new generation. The stories are different than fairy tales, partly because they have common folk instead of kings and queens as the main characters. They often start with, “Once Upon A Time… “ To complete our folktale fun we will complete an AR test on a folktale and write our own missing mitten story. Here are some pictures of us reading!
By: Mrs. Glaeser, 1st grade teacher
