Estrellita de Oro: A Cinderella Cuento
Fair, Brown & Trembling
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story
The Egyptian Cinderella
Yeh-Shen
Cinderellas Around the World
Overview
This unit was written to be used by preschool or elementary teachers working with primary aged children. The unit visits 'Cinderella-like' characters from China, Ireland, Egypt, Africa, Mexico, and the Ojibwa tribe.
Title Page
Cinderellas from Around the World
JoAnn Melo
Modesto Junior College
Merced College
January 2020
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objectives 3
Materials 4
Books 5
Procedure 6
Objectives
Cinderella Stories from Around the World
Objectives:
- Students will be introduced to Cinderella stories from other cultures.
- Students will create their own version of a Cinderella story.
- Students will design their own “slipper”.
- Students will write a character biography.
- Students will compare and contrast Cinderella characters.
- Students will locate and label different countries on a world map.
- Students will write and answer math questions using a class graph.
Materials
Materials:
- Butcher paper
- Markers
- Use index cards to make a matching game. One card will have the Cinderella character, and its match would have the footwear she wore in that particular version.
- Use sentence strips to write sentences from each version.
- Pocket chart
- Individual copies of blank world maps.
- Colored pencils
- White boards and dry erase markers
- Tag board
- Misc. craft and art supplies
- DVD of Disney’s Cinderella
- CD or other music format of Disney’s Cinderella soundtrack
Books
Books:
- Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China, retold by Ai-Ling Louie
- Fair, Brown & Trembling: An Irish Cinderella Story, by Jude Daly
- The Egyptian Cinderella, by Shirley Climo
- Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, by John Steptoe
- Estrellita de oro/Little Gold Star: A Cinderella Cuento, retold by Joe Hayes
- Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story, retold by Robert D. San Souci
Procedure
- Break students into groups and have them brainstorm what they already know about Cinderella.
- Throughout the week, read the different versions of Cinderella stories.
- Create a chart on butcher paper comparing the stories. Include: title, author, country, setting, good characters, bad characters, events, magic involved (if any), and the date written.
- Break into literature circles. Each group discusses one version. Have each group present their version as a ‘play’.
- In small cooperative groups, students will brainstorm and develop their own Cinderella story. A representative from each group will read the story aloud to their classmates.
- Add the students’ versions to the chart.
- Make Venn diagrams on butcher paper. Break the students into cooperative groups, and assign each group a Cinderella character from another country. In their groups, the students will compare the similarities and differences of the American version with the version assigned to their group.
- In their cooperative groups, students will play a matching/concentration game. They will be attempting to match the Cinderella character with the type of footwear each character wore in their respective version.
- In their cooperative groups, students will sequence a group of sentences from one of the versions read. This will by manipulating sentence strips in a pocket chart.
- Each student will be given a blank world map. The teacher will guide the students in labeling the countries in which the Cinderella stories were written and in which they took place.
- As individuals, each student will select a character from one of the stories. The character chosen does not need to be one of the Cinderella characters. Each student will write a biography on the character of their choice. These biographies may be read aloud to the class.
- Make a class graph representing the favorite version of the students. Have students write a math question based on information from the graph. Have students answer each other’s questions using their white boards and markers to assist with calculation.
- Provide each student with a tag board “shoe/slipper” cut-out and various arts and crafts supplies. Students design their own “slipper”. This can also be done with actual shoes. Students can bring an old pair of shoes from home, or shoes can be purchased inexpensively at a thrift shop.
- Watch the DVD of the Disney version of Cinderella.
- Add the Disney version to the chart.
- End the unit with a sing-along with music from the Disney version.