Fairy Tales...Reading for Enjoyment and Learning!

There are few of us who cannot recall the wonderful fairy tales that were part of our childhood... time spent on a parent or grandparent's comfy lap, or perhaps in a library group with a caregiver, listening to the magical words and enjoying the familiar illustrations that made up so many hours of our earliest years.

So now that you are a parent, just what can you do to enhance your time reading fairytales with your little one?  In addition to the cozy one-on-one bonding, is there any real "education" to be gained from this reading time together?

You bet! Aside from the soothing rhythm of the words, and the phonological awareness that is born of exposure to language, listening and interacting, the structure of the fairy tale in particular, lend itself to a particular Comprehension Strategy that will serve your child in later, both in school, and in his personal enjoyment of  literature.

Specifically, fairy tales fall into the category that we reading specialists call "Narrative Text."  This type of literature can be easily understood by using the Comprehension Strategy of "Story Grammar."  As a work of fiction, it generally follows a predictable format that includes the following 5 "Story Elements":

1. "Characters" (most often a main character, in addition to others)
2. the "Plot"(the story line)
3. the "Problem" (the conflict, or rising issue)
4. the "Turning Point" (when there is action that changes the course of events and leads to the...)
5. the "Resolution,"or Solution to the story's conflict

Keeping this "Story Grammar" in mind, as you read narrative stories with your child, it is a good idea to visit these 5 key concepts.  For your youngest readers, you may do this in a very simple way, using simple language; for your older readers, you could begin to introduce the terms as they are written above.  Your children will certainly hear them again in school through the elementary and middle school grades, and having previewed "Story Grammar" with you, identifying the character(s), the plot, the problem, the turning point, and the resolution, your child will already be familiar with the concept when they hear it in school. And research has shown that "previewing"is far more effective than than "reviewing" when it comes to receptivity to learning, and long-term retention of information.

You might also take a look at an earlier blog entitled "Thinking Cards," for an idea for a game that you and your child might play while reading narrative text to reinforce the concept of "Story Grammar."

Another idea that you might use aside from simply talking about the parts of narrative text, is to have your child draw pictures for each of the 5 story elements, perhaps on a labeled outline of a puzzle piece.  Once they have drawn and/or colored in a puzzle piece for each of the individual story elements, you can show them how each piece of the puzzle fits together to make the whole story!