Teaching Reading Activities with Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Pairing reading activities with Goldilocks stories is sure to make your lessons fun! There are endless possibilities for how literacy skills an be applied to fairy tales.
Let’s dive into what makes fairy tales perfect for your reading instruction and I share some free lesson/ activity ideas below!
What is a Fairy Tale?
When I think fairy tales, I think of magic wands and prince charming! Anyone else? This sometimes is the case but more reliably, you know that using a fairy tale as a mentor text will provide you with a wonderful story. I choose to do many reading activities with Goldilocks because of the unique identifying characteristics of fairy tales.
Fairy Tales:
- are make believe stories
- teach a lesson
- usually have talking animals
- often have things in groups of 3
Are you familiar with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
The main plot points are that Goldilocks is wandering through the woods and comes upon a Bear’s house so she walks right in.
There is a pattern with finding things in groups of 3 belonging to Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear. Usually 2 options will be not satisfactory and 1 is just right. Inside she find 3 bowls of porridge in the kitchen of varying temperatures, 3 types of chairs, and 3 beds of different comfort levels.
Goldilocks tries out all of the options to find what is just right. She ends up eating up all of Baby Bear’s porridge, breaking his rocking chair, and falling asleep in his bed. When the bear’s come home and find Goldilocks, she jumps up and runs away!
The ending can differ depending on the author, sometimes Goldilocks is never seen again and sometimes she comes back to apologize.
Activities from this Goldilocks lesson and activity pack!
What is a fractured fairy tale?
Aside from being one of my favorite things ever, a fractured fairy tale is when an author reimagines the original plot points of a fairy tale.
Some of the changes with Goldilocks can be
- the animal family are changed such as in Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
- the food, chair, and bed options are changed such as in Goldy Luck and The Three Pandas
- Goldilocks can be changed into an animals like in Goatilocks
The slight differences and underlying similiarities make text to text connection reading activities with Goldilocks a perfect match!
There are so many amazing versions, find out more about each of them below!
Want a quick overview of review of how to use these in your classroom? I also have individual reviews and lesson/ activity ideas for each story on my Youtube Channel!
Fractured Versions of Goldilocks and The Three Bears
The original Goldilocks story I always share with my class first to make sure they know the plot points. Do not assume all kids have heard this!
Goldilocks and the Three Bears– view on Amazon
Watch my read aloud of Goldilocks here.
Lesson plan and activities to go along with the book are available here.
Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas
Overview- (like video better? listen to my synopsis and lesson ideas below)
This twist on the original takes place during The Chinese New Year and begins when Goldy Luck is taking turnip cakes over to the Chans apartment. The porridge is replaced with congee and the text is full of culturally relevant similes as Goldy Luck follows the adventure to falling asleep in Little Chan’s futon.
Check it out on Amazon here.
