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Aesop's Fables

Subjects

• Language Arts
• Literature

Grades

• 3-5
• 6-8
  

Brief Description

Students use Aesop's fables as a backdrop for a lesson in citizenship and letter writing.

Objectives

• be exposed to the traditional fables of Aesop.
• role play a character from one fable.
• practice letter-writing skills.

Materials Needed

• copy of Aesop for Children or another source of Aesop's fables; possible Internet resources include Aesop's Fables Online Collection or Aesop's Fables: Traditional and Modern
• pencils, crayons, paper

Lesson Plan

Note: This lesson assumes that students have been exposed to the friendly letter format. If not, an introductory lesson on the friendly letter format should precede this lesson.

Select one of Aesop's fables to share with students. Read aloud the fable. At the end of the fable, tell students that each of Aesop's fables ends with a moral. Share the moral of the fable you read and discuss it with students.

Share another fable, then give students an opportunity to discuss the fable and "discover" its moral. Write on a chalkboard students' best guess about what is the fable's moral. After the discussion, share the actual moral and talk about how close the students' guess was.

Share several more fables. Discuss the moral of each. Then invite students to choose their favorite character from one of the stories and write a letter to that character.

Next, have each student exchange letters with a partner and write a reply to his or her partner's letter. In their replies, students should role play the part of the characters the letters are addressed to -- they should "become" those characters and write the responses in their assumed roles.

Assessment

For homework, students write letters to the teacher about an assigned topic, so the teacher can evaluate their letter writing skills.

Submitted By

Michelle Stiglitz, Staten Island, New York