African mask pictures courtesy of Cheryl Leung's third grade art class.
You are a famous author of children's
books. Your publishing company
has just offered to pay you to write an African folk tale. The
problem
is that you need more information about Africa and African folk
tales.
Your job is to find out more information, and then write an African folk
tale of your own.
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1. After you read the
Story Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters
or another
African folk tale, storymap
it.
2. Chose another African
folk tale to
read. Use a venn diagram to
to compare the two stories.
3. In preparation for writing your own African folk tale, research
Africa. Find out:
What are some of the things that you would see if you went
to Africa? (See the Resources section for sites with pictures)
What kind of animals
live in Africa?
4. Look at the map
of Africa.
Choose a country
to research.
Draw a map of your country
Draw your countries flag
What is the population of your country?
5. Use
the
writing process
and the information that you learned
about African folk tales and Africa to write your own African
folk tale.
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Task 1
Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters: Additional History
Background information about the story.
Storymap
Here is a story map
to print for task 1.
Task 2
Afro-American
Almanac
More African
folk tales to read!
African
Myths, Legends and Folk Tales
This site has background information about African myths, legends
and folk tales.
African
Tales Suggested Readings
Here you will find a list of African tales that you may be able to
check out of your school library or the public library.
Task 3
Africa, the Mother of Landmasses
This site has geological information about Africa.
Here you will find a picture of an African mask.
This site has many beautiful pictures of African cloth.
Here are some
pictures of Africa.
Task 4
Map
of Africa
Here you will find a large, detailed, colorful map of Africa.
This site is
great! It has the countries of the world indexed
alphabetically. There is a picture of the flag, a map and
clearly organized information on each country.
Task 5
Writing
and Editing Your Story
This site has step by step instructions for how to write a story.
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Use the following rubric to evaluate tasks 1-4.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Storymap | Most information is missing and/or not logically sequenced | Some information is missing and/or not logically sequenced | Most information is included and logically sequenced | All information is included and logically sequenced |
| Venn diagram | Most information is missing and/or not logically sequenced | Some information is missing and/or not logically sequenced | Most information is included and logically sequenced | All information is included and logically sequenced |
| Africa Info. | Most information is missing | Some information is missing | Most information is included | All information is included |
| Country Info. | Most information is missing | Some information is missing | Most information is included | All information is included |
Use the
six trait writing rubric
to
assess the African folk tales
written by students.
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Writing Standards
| W-F1 | Use
the writing process, including generating topics, revising ideas and
editing, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks. PO 1- Generate through prewriting activities (e.g., brainstorming, webbing, mapping, drawing, writer's notebook, K-W-L charts, scaffolds, group discussion) PO 3- Write a draft with the necessary components for a specific genre. PO 4- Revise draft as many times as necessary to produce a quality piece. PO 5- Edit revised draft using resources (e.g., dictionary, word lists and banks, thesaurus, spellchecker, glossary, style manual, grammar and usage preference). PO 6-Proofread revised draft. PO 7-Present final copy according to purpose (e.g., read aloud, display, publish, mail, send, perform). |
| W-E1 | Use
correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and word usage,
along with varied sentence structure and paragraph organization, to
complete effectively a variety of writing tasks. PO 1- Spell correctly. PO 2- Punctuate correctly (e.g., sentence endings, commas in a friendly letter's greeting and closing, commas in a series, abbreviations, quotations in dialogue, apostrophe) PO 3- Apply rules of capitalization (sentence beginnings, titles, abbreviations, proper nouns). PO 4- Apply standard grammar and usage (e.g., subject-verb agreement, simple and compound sentences, appropriate verb tense, plurals). |
| W-E2 | Write
a personal experience narrative of a creative story that includes a plot
and shows the reader what happens through well developed characters,
setting, dialogue, and themes, and uses figurative language, descriptive
words and phrases. PO 2- Write a story Develop a story line in a sequence that is clear Develop the characters Describe the setting Use dialogue when appropriate Use descriptive words and phrases |
| W-E9 | Demonstrate
research skills using reference materials such as a dictionary,
encyclopedia, the thesaurus to complete effectively a variety of writing
tasks. PO 1- Implement a research strategy that includes: Selecting an appropriate source for a specific research purpose Utilizing reference materials (e.g. dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, informational trade books, multimedia sources, Internet) Writing a paraphrase of information from a source Recording relevant information (e.g., notes, graphs, tables) taken from a research source Organizing notes and integrating notes into a finished product Incorporating notes into a final product |
Reading Standards
| R-E2 | Use
reading strategies such as making inferences and predictions,
summarizing, paraphrasing, distinguishing fact from opinion, drawing
conclusions, and determining the author's purpose and perspective to
comprehend written selections. PO 4- Compare and contrast text (e.g., characters, genre, cultural differences, fact, fiction). |
Technology Standards
| Basic operations and concepts | Students
demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of
technology systems. Students are proficient in the use of technology |
| Technology productivity tools | Students
use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and
promote creativity. Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology enhanced models, preparing publications, and producing other creative works. |
| Technology resource tools | Students use technology to locate, evaluate and collect information from a variety of resources. |
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If you are interested in exploring folk tales more, here
are some additional resources that you might find helpful.
Multiculturalism Through African Folk Tales And Mayan Myths
This is a full unit that
involves African folk tales and Mayan myths.
Deep
in the Bush Where the Teachers Rarely Go
This site has lesson
plans for a unit on African folk tales.
Kid's
Catalog Web
This site has
bibliographies for folk tales from all over the world.
Imagination
This site has a lot of links and resources for folk tales and fairy
tales from all over the world.
What
is Plagiarism?
This may help you to
discuss plagiarism with your class when they
write their own folk tales.
Storymap
Print a storymap for students to map their folk tale on.
Teacher's
Guide: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
This site has a lot
of other ideas for activities to do with the story.
The
writing process
Here is an overview of the
writing process.
These materials are © copyrighted by Karen Strong.
You may link to this page, but any
other use must be by permission of the author.
