Fairy Tales Lesson 3: Character & Theme

Go to: Fairy Tales Home Page

Library List

The Fisherman & His Wife (Brothers Grimm)

Beauty & the Beast (found in: The Random House Book of Fairy Tales and The Golden Book of Fairy

Tales) 

The Ugly Duckling (found in The Classic Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen)

Snow White (found in: The Random House Book of Fairy Tales or Classic Fairy Tales by Scott 

          Gustafson)  (Brothers Grimm)

Snow White and Rose Red (Brothers Grimm)

    

Day 1

1.       Read The Fisherman & His Wife. Discuss the idea of theme. Here is a great chart listing common themes found in fairy tales and fables. Have your child choose which they think best fits this story. (Those who are greedy and want everything may end up with nothing.)

2.       Look back at some of the fairy tales you’ve already read.  Use the theme chart from above to determine the themes of some of these. Here are some:

The Emperor’s New Clothes- Deception & lying will catch up to you.

The Elves & the Shoemaker- Even the biggest can use the help of the smallest.

Hansel & Gretel- Good triumphs over evil.

Day 2

1.       Read The Beauty & the Beast. Discuss a possible theme for this story (“Appearances can be deceiving).

2.       Begin to discuss character traits. Help your student come up with a list of words that can be used to describe a person. Use this Character Traits List as a guide. Then, help students begin to understand the difference between how a character looks on the outside and how he/ she acts on the inside. Use the Beginning Character Mapping Worksheet to discuss both main characters in the story.

Day 3

1.       Read The Ugly Duckling (Andersen). Use the discussion questions to review comprehension. The theme of this story could be “Don’t judge things based on their appearance.” Choose a character from the story and complete the “Characters Have Personality!” worksheet.

Day 4

1.       Read Snow White (Brothers Grimm). Use this Comparing Characters worksheet to compare Snow White and the evil Queen.

2.       Also read Snow White and Rose Red. Discuss why you think the Brothers Grimm may have written two tales with similar names. Discuss the theme of this story (“Do what is right even if it seems hard.”) Compare the following characters using a bubble map on a piece of paper: Snow White, Rose Red, the dwarf, and the bear. What traits did they each possess? How did they look on the outside vs. the inside?