2nd graders are currently working on the Where We Are in Place and Time UOI, focusing on ancient cultures. I wanted to tie in to their discussions and with guidance from Betty Turpin's BiblioGarden website, I found a neat activity which involved discussing, reading, and drawing fables. (For the full lesson click here)
I began this lesson by creating a Google Slides presentation outlining who Aesop was, what the key attributes of a fable are, what a moral was (along with some examples) and then the titles of the three fables I would read aloud to the class: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, and The Goose and the Golden Egg.
I also showed the students an example of Betty Turpin's worksheet and explained that we would be completing out own.
After I read the title of Fable #1 (The Tortoise and the Hare), I asked the students to write down the title and then, as I read the fable aloud, they were invited to draw a quick sketch of the story.
After I finished reading the fable, I gave the students a few minutes to think and write down what they thought the moral to the story was. We then spent about 30 seconds doing a Turn and Talk so the students could each share their moral. Students were then invited to share with the class a moral that they particularly like.
We did this three times, for each of the fables that I chose for the class and at the end of the activity, the students uploaded a picture of their worksheet to their Seesaw accounts where I commented with the following blurb:
"In library we are starting to study Aesop and fables in preparation for the Where We Are in Place and Time UOI. Aesop was a man who lived in Ancient Greece and is most known for his fables, or short stories that share a moral or a lesson. Today in library we listened to three morals, drew a sketch of the story, and then came up with a moral for the story."
The students enjoyed this lesson and I feel like it connected perfectly with their UOI focus on ancient cultures (Ancient Greece, Ancient China, Ancient India).
