Zen Stories: Fables and Folktales from Asia
In this four week course, students develop literacy and social studies skills through engaging in readings, discussion, games, and activities centered around popular fables and folktales from Asia.
Barbie Vargo, MAT
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(139)
What's included
8 live meetings
5 hrs 20 mins in-class hoursClass Experience
Zen Stories: Fables and Folktales from Asia merges social studies and literacy skills to engage students in meaningful, common core state standards aligned learning experiences. Each week, we will focus on an element of storytelling. After performing a close reading of the featured text, students will participate in a shared writing activity. This course meets two times a week for four weeks. Each lesson is forty-five minutes in length. Each week contains two lessons centered around the weekly fable or folktale, Lesson A and Lesson B. Lesson A includes: a social studies mini-lesson, a vocabulary mini-lesson, read aloud accompanied with reading comprehension questions and discussion, a literacy skill based game or activity. Lesson B includes: a social studies review and game, a close reading of a focal portion of the text, a shared writing mini-lesson and activity, a game or activity inspired by the featured fable or folktale's “Big Idea.” Research based, best practices and methodologies used to teach this course include: Robust Vocabulary, Accountable Talk, Common Core State Standards (K-2 ELA), Close Reading, Shared Writing, Read Alouds, Think Alouds, and more! Week 1: Momotaro, Peach Boy ‣ Social Studies: Japan mini-lesson ‣ Vocabulary: Example and Non-example ‣ Reading Skill: Story Elements ‣ Shared Writing: Writing to describe, create a character. Week 2: How Tiger Got his Stripes ‣ Social Studies: Vietnam mini-lesson ‣ Vocabulary: Categorization ‣ Reading Strategy: Cause and Effect ‣ Shared Writing: Parts of speech mini-lesson. How the ... got its ... mad libs. Week 3: Kuafu Chasing the Sun ‣ Social Studies: China mini-lesson ‣ Vocabulary: Synonyms and Antonyms ‣ Reading Skill: Author's Message ‣ Shared Writing: If... then writing. Students create "fortune cookies." Week 4: The Elephant and The Sparrow ‣ Social Studies: India mini-lesson ‣ Vocabulary: Sentence generation ‣ Reading Strategy: Compare and Contrast ‣ Shared writing: Opinion writing mini-lesson. Leaving a book review.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to:
‣ Engage in productive conversations with classmates using the strategies of Accountable Talk.
‣ Expand vocabulary through learning and applying two+ new vocabulary words to their speech each week.
‣ Apply various reading skills and strategies in order to demonstrate comprehension.
‣ Generate and share ideas inspired by a text through shared writing activities.
‣ Make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
No parental guidance is required, however students should come to class knowing how to use the features of the Zoom platform including annotation and chat (these will be reviewed, but initial parent support is essential to ensure students can navigate the classroom).
Supply List
Students should print the weekly worksheets provided in the classroom announcements 24 hours (or more) before each lesson. Students should also come to class with a pencil and crayons (markers and colored pencils are optional). Optional: students can have a toy microphone to demonstrate it is their turn to speak.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined May, 2020
4.9
139reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
‣ I have 5 years experience teaching Kindergarten at a charter school.
‣ I have Bachelor's of Arts degrees in English Writing and Communications from the University of Pittsburgh. Reviews
Live Group Class
$60
for 8 classes2x per week, 4 weeks
40 min
Completed by 2 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 5-8
2-7 learners per class
