Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ideas

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Snow White
Many Different Versions Snow White is one of the most widely retold stories of folklore. There are literally hundreds of versions of this story each with its own interpretation. For example, in some, it is Snow Whites mother who is jealous of her beauty and in others it is her stepmother. Probably the most popular version, among children today, is Walt Disney Studios Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs produced in 1937 as an animated film. This story is a retelling of the fairy tale Snow White. Begin by finding a copy of the original fairy tale for comparison; you only need to concentrate on the opening few paragraphs, and can then skim the rest of the story, though you should read the ending carefully as well. Some elements of the story: the colour imagery of blood (red) and snow (white), and the imagery of feathers, and the emphasis on the number three. But what significant differences are there? Think about what who the object of jealousy is in each story, and what causes the jealousy in each case. Finally, how similar would you say the two endings are for the wicked Queen-character?

Math Activity Create word problems suitable for each students level, using the dwarfs as a theme. For example: How many dwarfs names begin with the letter S? How many dwarfs names begin with the letter G? If Snow White and 5 dwarfs took a nap, how many dwarfs would be awake? If each dwarf brought home two potatoes every night for dinner, how may potatoes would Snow White have to cook for supper? If each dwarf had five pets, how many pets would there be all together? Science

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The Queen gave Snow White a poisoned apple, but without the poison, apples are a wonderful fruit. Activity How does an apple grow? Label the parts of an apple. Plant an apple seed. Make applesauce by peeling and mashing apples. ACTIVITY (Health) Apples are discussed in the story of Snow White, so a lesson on the food pyramid would be a great way to incorporate health into the classroom. This site is a teacher lesson plan that identifies how a teacher can introduce the food pyramid into the classroom activities. The lesson is gone into further detail in the site to follow. (http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/health/heanut.html). A copy of the food pyramid online is found at http://www.ganesa.com/ganesa/~misc/foodpyramid.html. The teacher can allow the students to go into the site and do some work online with the food pyramid also. One thing to remember to mention is that the poisonous apples would not be included into the food pyramid and then the teacher may want to go into an activity regarding safety. Social Studies While the Dwarfs are at work, Snow White is left alone in their cottage. They tell her to be on guard. No visitors. When the Queen comes to the cottage, she is in disguise. Snow White lets her in. Activity Use the events in the play to teach about child safety. Cleanliness Before Snow White came to live with the Dwarfs they were not practicing good personal hygiene. Discuss what that means. How did Snow White help them practice better hygiene? What good personal hygiene habits do you practice?

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of the stories told by the Brothers Grimm. They were from Germany. Activity Locate Germany on a map. Create a German Flag out of construction paper. The word kinder is a German word that means children. What word in the English language has kinder in it? (Kindergarten) How is life in Germany different from life in Egypt? Family In todays society there are many types of families. Some are traditional with a mother and a father, but each is different because of the number of children in each family. Use the Snow White story as a springboard for teaching about the different types of families. Activity Recognize the non-traditional families represented in the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Discuss the differences in the family that Snow White was a part. What role did Snow White play in each family? What role do you play in your family? What new responsibilities did the dwarfs have once Snow White was living with them? What are your responsibilities at home and at school?

Did you Know? The seven dwarfs in the Snow White story seem to have been first given names in the 1938 Walt Disney movie. The dwarves in Snow White have names that indicate an aspect of their character. Activities: 1 .What do the names of the dwarfs in Snow White tell you about their characters? Can you think of some other dwarf names? What character attributes do your names suggest? 2. The Dwarfs:

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1. Many people have a favourite dwarf. Who is your favourite? Why? 2. Select a dwarf and create a list of words that rhyme with his name. Then write a poem using the list of words you created. Make the list of words as a class and write the poem individually 3. There are only seven dwarfs in the story. How might the story have changed if there has been more? 4. All the dwarves are men. How might the stories have changed if on e of them had been a woman? 5. Create a dwarf of your own. Think of a name for the eighth dwarf. Be sure that the name reflects his character. For example, in the story, Gloomy is often miserable and frowning while happy is always cheerful and smiling. What is unique about your dwarfs appearance? 6. Create a dwarfs cottage out of a shoebox. 7. Make a dwarf paper doll for a younger child to play with. Draw a basic dwarf on a piece of plain white paper. Create different hats, shirts, pants and shoes out of construction paper. Use glue sticks to make the clothes removable. Try on different hat, shirt, pant and shoe combinations to create several different dwarfs. Name them.

Writing Write a short paragraph from the first person perspective of any of the characters from the play or from the dwarf that you created earlierWhat it is like to be __________(one of the characters). Describe a typical day.

3. All questions asked of the magic mirror must rhyme. If you had a magic mirror what would you want to ask it? How could you ask your questions so that they rhymed?

4. The Mirror tells Snow White that she will know the members of her family by three signs. Can you think of three signs that would identify the members of your family or your group of friends? They dont necessarily have to be physical signs, but what are three things that make your family or friends different from others? Are these things that you like or dislike about your family or friends?

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5 Snow White and Rose Red have a Cinderella complex. In what ways is their situation similar to the situation near the end of the story of Cinderella? What sort of situation might you be in if you had a Red Riding Hood Complex? How about a Rapunzel complex? What fairy tale character do you think your own life is the most like? Why?

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What do you want to see in the Mirror? Draw the picture of wht the story shows you ACTIVITY Page 6 of 13

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(Writing) For this activity, the students will be able to go to this site, write a fairy tail story and then enter the contest. If the teacher wishes, she can use this as an extra credit assignment, a regular assignment, or for the students to just do during their free time. The site for this is as follows: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr173.shtml.

ACTIVITY (Art) This is a teacher lesson plan design for working with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The teacher can use this activity and change any of the ideas that they may wish. The students will be able to draw their favorite scene after reading the story. They are to include all the characters that are involved into this section of the story. Some examples of the type of art that they will be expected to do can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/6809/snow_white.htm. The students would need to click on either Image Gallery 1 or 2 and then decide on a picture that they would like to copy. The students can also make up their own scene and use their imaginations to draw their own, unique picture.

ACTIVITY (Art) The students are to make a flag out of streamers, strips of paper, or even ribbon. They are then to glue them to a stick or wooden dowel and it is in working fashion. When the students hear an emotion in the story, they need to wave their flag in the manner that the story is making them feel. The site that is incorporated with this activity is as follows: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Art23.htm. ACTIVITY (Drama) For this activity, the teacher can have the students act out their favorite scene of the story or even act as if they were a certain character from the story and then act, as they would have done in the story. Some other drama examples can be found at: http://www.students.dsu.edu/pendleyc/. The teacher will need to click on the Links button and then click on Language Arts Booklet. Then they need to click on the drama link and they can find many sites on how to incorporate drama activities for the students.

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ACTIVITY (Reading) This activity is a great one for students to go to, on their own, to look at different versions of Snow White. The students can go into the web site and find many other versions of the story and then see how different authors make stories different in their own ways. The sites are as follows: http://members.aol.com/surlalune/frytales/snowhite/index.htm http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/dwarfs.html http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/snowwhitetext.html http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html ACTIVITY (Language Arts) The students can go into this site and discover more in the idea of researching. The site that is included with this project is: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/snowwhite.html. The students can go to this site and find out more about Snow White. Things included in this site are: videos, illustrations, different editions, etc. The students can click on any area and find out more about the story, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The teacher may even want to use this as a teaching idea. If the teacher decides to do this, the site offers a way for the students to get in groups and work through the web site. This site is located at: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/swteach.html. ACTIVITY (Music) This activity includes areas in which the students can go online and find lyrics to songs as well as pieces of music that will play as they work. The site is located here: http://www.informatik.unifrankfurt.de/~fp/Disney/Lyrics/welcome.html. Along with this site, there are others that have songs and pictures from Snow White. These are found at http://homes.acmecity.com/movies/silent/392/snowwhite.html and http://homes.acmecity.com/movies/silent/392/snowwhite.html.

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Discussion Questions Another Version: One version of this fairy tale, this story takes place long ago in the mountains of Central Mexico. The Duke of Valeciana lives in his palace high on the hill overlooking Guanajuato, a city whose mines produce most of the world's silver. Snow White, his young daughter, is the happiest child in the world. One day the Duke brings home a beautiful but vain bride who carries with her an enchanted mirror. The years pass and Snow White grows up to be a beautiful young girl. Her stepmother, the Duchess, who has been asking the same question every day since she arrived in Guanajuato, asks again, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in the land is the fairest of all?" When the mirror tells the Duchess the truth, she becomes obsessed with getting rid of her stepdaughter. Snow White must flee the city for the high mountains, where she befriends seven amigos who work the mines. They take her in and to protect her and later restore her to her rightful place as the Duchess of Valeciana. 1) Who are the main characters in the story? 2) What is the main conflict (problem) in the story? 3) How would you have solved the problem? 4) Tell me about a time that you felt the same way as Snow White. 5) Where did the story take place? How do you know? 6) Why do you think the Duchess disliked Snow White so much? 7) Do you think that the Duchess was being fair? Why or why not? 8) Name two ways that the Duchess tried to get rid of Snow White. 9) If you could be any character in the story which character would you choose? Give me 2 supported reasons. Get students to make up a different version of Snow White.

Fairy Tale Head Bands 1. Let each child choose a fairy tale character to use to make a headband. Reproduce the chose character once for each child. Have children color. Mount on oaktag, and cut out. 2. Give each child a 2" x 24" strip of construction paper. Help each child staple the headband to the center of the strip as shown. 3. Staple each strip to fit around each child's head.

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4. Children may wear their Fairy-Tale Headbands while they listen to and act out some of the best known fairy tales.

Fairy Tale Dramatics 1. Ask children to help make a list of several fairy tales that the class has enjoyed. 2. Help determine the characters needed to dramatize the fairy tale. 3. Reproduce appropriate headbands for their characters needed to dramatize the fairy tale. 4. Let children perform the fairy tale for parents.

KING/QUEEN'S CROWN Cut the cardboard into strips about 5 inches wide, and long enough to go around child's head cut into a pattern of your choosing Bend into a circle, and glue or staple the edges Paint the crown Glue on decorations Make a fur brim by gluing on some absorbent cotton. * Hats ~ For the Princesses - Cut a large circle from paper, cut once into the center point, roll and staple to form a cone to fit the child's head. We used strips of crepe paper, long pieces of colourful curling ribbon and tulle (soft netting) hanging from the top to decorate. The children also added colour (paint/marker), jewels and glitter. attache elastic to hold them on.

Fairy Tales from Scholastic: Classroom activities and a tool to publish on line

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/fractured_fairy.htm Topics and themes

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Animals. The story can be used as part of an animal topic interest. The forest animals can take part in the drama activity, using cardboard headbands to identify them. Celebrations. Christmas, birthdays and local festivals. Invitations, presents, greeting cards, food and party activities would be the focus. My House. The story can be used as an introduction to the topic to stimulate interest by asking the pupils to imagine the inside of the dwarfs house. How many rooms would there be, which items of furniture would they have and how many. Activities could include making group wall murals of the inside and outside of the dwarves house and sticking cut out furniture in the rooms. Items can be labelled. Numbers. The number seven can begin a discussion on size of families, days of the week, or a maths project. Parties. Depending on the time of year, the story can be exploited to develop this theme.

Role play/drama. Various scenes from the story can be built up in simplified role plays. These can then be put together as a full dramatization of the story. The pupils bring in items of clothing and props. The teacher needs to use some imagination in creating simple cardboard accessories. The pupils imagination will do most of the work. The pupils can work in groups on backdrop scenery on large sheets of paper. Paints or thick wax crayons are best. Allow several weeks of work for the drama to develop fully and encourage the pupils to interpret their roles imaginatively. Invite other pupils/parents. Repetition. Several opportunities for repetition of speech occurs here. Firstly of the rhyme mirror on the wall but also from making speeches for each of the 7 dwarves. Each one would say good morning, sitting at the table eating, they could all ask for the bread, pass the milk. Watching or listening for specific information/postreading/whole class. Before watching or listening to the cassette (if the pupils have already read the book) elicit the names of the main characters from the story and write them on the board. Tell the pupils to, for example, stand up when they see Snow White or when she speaks, to clap. Do the same for all the characters. This will result in very energetic and active viewing or listening. Ask the pupils to act out vanity, anger such as the wicked queen shows, and opposite emotions. During watching and listening whole class prediction. Play the video or audio cassette story through in its entirety. The second time through, stop just before a dramatic event in the story ( for example

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when Snow White takes the poisoned apple) and ask the pupils to tell you what happens next, then view or listen to see if they were right. Simultaneous reading and listening in groups will help the pupils with pronunciation and intonation. The pupils can all speak together for the mirror, mirror on the wall sequences, for example, or imitate the horrible queen when she is selling her combs and apples. Whole class. When the pupils are thoroughly familiar with the story, having heard it with the teacher and role played and/or dramatized it, they can listen to it on cassette. As they listen they should look at the pictures and point to the various characters as they are mentioned. In order to introduce this idea, it would be best to do this in small groups with the teacher while the rest of the class is working on another activity. Some pupils may like to mime certain scenes from the video. For example, Snow Whites mother wishing for a baby by the window, the stepmother talking to the mirror, Snow White running away in the woods and finding the dwarves house. Can the other pupils find the right places on the video?

FAIRY TALE FUN -- JIGSAW STYLE! Divide students into five equal groups. Each group get one fairy tale to read. The stories were "The Ugly Duckling," "Snow White," "Hansel and Gretel," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and "The Three Little Pigs." Each group was responsible for collecting the following information:

Who are the characters in the story? Where does the story take place? What are the major events of the story? Are there any magical or supernatural events? If so, what are they?

After the students read, discuss, and record the above information, split them into jigsaw groups. One person from each fairy tale assembled in a new group. (assign the jigsaw groups because it is difficult for students to create these new, blended groups quickly.) In their new groups, students are given three minutes to tell the other group members about the story they had read as well as the information they had collected. After that, the group creates a poster and give a presentation that addressed two points: Page 12 of 13

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1. What do all five stories have in common? 2. Using what you found in common, write your own definition for a fairy tale. After the presentations discuss the definition of a fairy tale according to the literature textbook.
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