We have had so much fun the past couple of weeks reading and comparing different versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Honestly, the only reason I decided to compare versions of Red Riding Hood is because I have done this activity with Cinderella in the past and I wanted to do something different. I learned quite a bit about how my students learn during this unit. Since we compared either two stories or two characters every day for two weeks, I could see their growth in thinking and in working with their partners. Generally, I read a story aloud at the beginning of the day to my whole class. I then shared copies of the stories during our small group sessions so that I could do more one-on-one talking with the kiddos. They worked with partners at my reading table to compare different aspects of the stories.
I started by reading Red Riding Hood, by James Marshall.
This version is pretty true to the story I remember from my childhood.
Then we read several other versions.
Then we read several other versions.
We did several activities as we read the stories.
Here's the anchor chart we made to guide our comparisons after we had read a couple of books.
We recorded info about the story elements on a chart for each story. The green post-its are vocabulary they didn't know from the story.
We started by taking notes as we compared.
Once they understood the concept of comparing and contrasting, I required them to write sentences instead of phrases. We compared the same character from different versions using paper plates to make the Venn diagrams. They illustrated the characters. We've worked up to writing three comparisons and three contrasting statements.
I think I was most surprised that my kiddos didn't really understand how to ask specific questions about the stories. If I told them to think of a "When" question, they were likely to ask, "Where did the story happen?" We spent a LOT of time on questioning.
I finally asked one student to write a question and give it to another to write a statement as the answer.
After comparing and contrasting these versions, we read the story told from the viewpoint of the wolf and compared both versions. They are having some trouble distinguishing the differing viewpoints, so we're still working on this standard. I'll post more about this later.
I need to end this loooong post by announcing the winner of the Magic Moves Wand from Educational Insights from my giveaway this week.
Congratulations, Kristin S.! I'll be sending you an email of details for getting your prize!
Have a wonderful weekend!
