Creative Book Reports: Let the Show Begin!

Written by: bcronin • Edited by: Trent Lorcher
Updated Sep 23, 2009

This is the final part of a six part lesson on fairytales. This creative book report lesson enables students to become active participants in the fairytales they've created. Students will perform skits or puppet shows. Students will make predictions about what their classmates skits will be like.

Creative Book Report: Skit Rehearsal

Begin class by meeting in groups and allowing students to rehearse their productions. Rotate around the class and give positive feedback to the students. Remember this is their production; they can be creative and do (to a certain extent) what they want.

Goal: All of the common elements of a fairytale should be included in the story and the skit or puppet show. Students have not only read a few stories, they have learned about the elements, read various versions of their favorite fairytales, created their own versions of their favorite fairytales. It is now time for the culminating project: active participation in their created story.

Predictions: The audience should make predictions about each groups' skit or puppet show:

Have each group ask one member to write the name of their production on the board.
Ask the other groups to predict and record what they think the skit or puppet show will be about. What fairytale it’s based on, what will be the same, what will be different, etc.
Afterward, instruct students to write what they would have done differently.

Creative Book Report: The Performance

Each skit or puppet show should be no more than 5-10 minutes.

When groups are switching have other students record the actual facts versus their predictions for each production.
Have the class discuss what they predicted and how they were right or wrong.
Discuss predictions for the next skit or puppet show to be performed.
After all groups have performed, discuss the stories, what they liked, what surprised them, etc.

TIP: This lesson can also be extended to make the stories into legends. The students can also verbally brainstorm other endings or versions of the fairytales.

This lesson series is all about getting creative and letting the students explore imagination. Imagination is what fuels all fairytales and folktales so let them use it. There are no rights or wrongs.

Enjoy!