Day 4

Objective: Students will understand how to write fables with effective introductions, word choice, and conclusions.

Step One: Explore fables’ simple introductions.

Reread the first paragraph of each fable. Ask students to describe the introduction for a fable. (The introduction briefly tells the characters and a general setting.) Ask students to write brief introductions to their fables on Lesson Plan 2.

Step Two: Analyze the use of concrete words and phrases.

Display and read two versions of the introduction to “The Ants and the Grasshopper.”

Some Ants put grain away for winter. A Grasshopper came over.

All summer long a colony of Ants gathered grain and stored it for winter. As they worked, a Grasshopper, carrying his fiddle, hopped over to watch them.

Discuss how specific nouns and active verbs can be used to add details to a narrative. Optional: Ask students to go through each fable and underline or highlight specific nouns, active verbs, and/or words and phrases that signal sequence of events.

Have each student make a list of specific nouns, active verbs, and/or terms signaling sequence on Fable Plan 2. Encourage use of a thesaurus.

Step Three: Study fables’ use of morals and lessons as conclusions.

Reread the last paragraph of each fable. Ask students to describe the conclusion of a fable. (The conclusion wraps up the story. It either implies or states the moral.)

Ask each student to write a brief conclusion on Fable Plan 2.