Tall Tales, Folktales, and Fables

We're in the middle of a two week study of tall tales, folktales, and fables. This is the first year I've done a really intensive study of these genres with my class, and I've really enjoyed it (I think the kids have, too). I've learned a LOT. Did you know that tall tales have lots of exaggerations? Did you know that many tall tales are set in pioneer days and center around themes connected to frontier life? Did you know that many folktales use the number 3? Did you know the animals in fables usually represent one human characteristic - like greed or cleverness? After demonstrating to the class how I read a tall tale and identified its elements, groups of 3-4 students read their own tall tale and created a grid to show the characters, setting, problem, resolution, exaggerations, and other noticings. We created this huge grid on our carpet - here's what it looked like...

This enabled us to easily compare the various tall tales groups read. After creating this chart, we noticed that many tall tales are set in the pioneer days, and most of them deal with "taming" the west. We also noticed that lots of tall tale characters have super human strength and often times have a companion. We used the same strategy when we studied folktales, but we created an even bigger grid. Here it is...

After studying this chart, our students noticed that many folktales use trickery or magic. Most folktales have some sort of monster or evil character that has to be overcome. Justin and Adam noticed that many of the folktales are set outdoors, like the woods (we also noticed that many folktales do not use a specific setting, but start with "Once upon a time..."). Here is a close-up of some of our work...