Eat.Pray.Travel.Teach.: Cinderella Around the World

Click here to see different versions of Cinderella from around the world.

World Travels

We are back at it again! Traveling the world and soaking up all the culture we can over the next few weeks. If you follow me on my blog, you will know that I love learning about and exploring other cultures.

This is the main reason I travel. To eat great food and experience cultures - hands on. You know, the same way we teach our students. :) I am so grateful for being able to visit Italy, Greece, England, Ireland, and Scotland. I have no plans of stopping there! (I live in the United States, so I also travel within my home country).

In December my class traveled around the world for our Holidays Around the World Unit. My class loved it! And so did I. We had some really great learning experiences.

Since, I love cultures and traveling, I want to take my kinders around the globe one more time. This time we are going to dive into the story of Cinderella and compare and contrast just a few of the many versions.

I teamed up with two of my colleagues and we are each reading different versions of Cinderella. What's sad is that over the years I have noticed that my students are not familiar with the Fairy Tale Classics!

Fairy Tales

As I was preparing for my Cinderella unit, I just got WAY too excited! I had planned to just do Cinderella, but it turned into so much more. And I am glad it did! So it was go big or go home!

I began April by reading MANY fairy tales to my students. We learned about the different elements of fairy tales, wrote our own fairy tale, and read various versions of the same fairy tale. It is always engaging for them when the stories have a little twist to them. I have found these are also the ones my boys get into.

I purchased the fairy tale books I did not have (shh) and started making plans to transform my classroom. I reached out to my parents for their help. I had these great ideas but unfortunately, my energy is draining towards the end of the year! I am so beyond blessed to have had several parents step up and offered their help!

So the creativity begins! How cute is this guy? I originally saw him on Pinterest and my aide helped to recreate him! You can find a different template here! We made him after reading Tomie DePalo's - The Knight and the Dragon.

Check out my ideas on Pinterest by clicking below!

Classroom Transformation

Well, if you are going to do something - you might as well go big! Right?! Let me tell you I was tired just thinking about this challenge. I was very excited to have a grandmother let me borrow some props and for those parents who offered to make some! It really turned out fantastic!

I also purchased some tiaras and wands from Party City. From oriental trading I picked up some masks. Finally, I grabbed some swords from the Dollar Tree.

I was beyond excited for them to see the room!! April is such a long month, I am hoping this classroom transformation keeps my students excited and engaged! (Coming in May will be Wizard of Oz!!)

Cinderella Books

Here are just a few of the versions of Cinderella I will expose my students to.

I will over the weeks read them ALL! But, we will only go in depth with a few of them. I purchased this paper bag product off of TPT from:

and it was exactly what I needed to support my students! Yes, it is designed for older grades - but I made it work for K! Click on the image to go to the product in her store.

Cinderella Around the World Paper Bag Book

I am so excited for this unit, but I had a hard time finding age appropriate activities for my students. So, I created some! Be sure to click on the image to go to my Cinderella/Fairy Tale products. I hope that they are useful for your classroom as well!