Folklore is an oral literary tradition that reconstructs the spiritual history of man. It is a way to preserve a person's culture. It includes the traditional beliefs, practices, customs, stories and jokes of people transmitted orally from generation to generation. It is a way to keep a culture's beliefs, practices, and customs alive by retelling them to children. It is valuable in literature to help children visualize historical traditions and to help them understand the importance of storytelling.
Kindergarten QCC Standards
Language Arts
Topic: Writing
Standard:
Uses examples from literature to create individual and group stories.
Language Arts
Topic: Listening/Speaking
Language Arts
Topic: Listening/Speaking
Standard: Communicates effectively when
using descriptive language, relating experiences, and retelling stories.
Social Studies
Social Studies
Topic: Information Processing
Standard: Recalls and tells major ideas
following a listening activity.
Paul Bunyan
As Told By: Steven Kellogg
Created by Melanie Lawrence
Paul Bunyan is a legendary tall tale. Paul Bunyan was the largest, smartest, and strongest baby ever born in the state of Maine. It took five giant storks, working overtime, to deliver him to his parents. Three hours after his birth he was reported to weigh a full eighty pounds and they used a lumber wagon drawn by a team of oxen as a baby carriage. The story of Paul Bunyan is retold by Steven Kellogg, a well know children's book author. He loves to draw and does all of his illustrations himself. He has written books for over twenty-five years and has published over ninety books.
The best known folk hero of the Northwoods is the giant lumberjack, Paul Bunyan. His 'legend' was created in the bunkhouses of ordinary logging camps, by ordinary working men, while they gathered around the glowing woodstoves on cold winter evenings. It was from there that stories about Paul and Babe, his pet ox, spread throughout the territory of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The lumberjacks heard and then retold the fables, often weaving in local or personal embellishments as they passed the tales on.
Questions
What do you think Paul does for a living?
Do you think his ox can talk to him?
Pecos Bill
By: Ariane Dewey
Illustrator: Jose Aruego
Created by Sherie Vu
The roughest, toughest cowboy of all time was Pecos Bill. He could ride anything even tornadoes. The story of Pecos Bill has been retold by the talented author Ariane Dewey. From New York City, Dewey, writes and illustrates her own books. She has created or adapted on more than 65 children books. Ariane Dewey
Raised by coyotes, Pecos Bill grew up to be the greatest cowboy in Texas or anywhere else. Besides inventing lassoing, cattle roping, and rodeos, he could tame rattlesnakes, wrestle dangerous critters, and even make the terrible Heils Gulch gang turn respectable! But his two greatest feats were winning the hearts of Lightning and of Slewfoot Sue - the wildest horse and the wildest woman in the West!
Questions
What kind of person do you think Pecos Bill was?
Do you think Pecos was a normal baby?
John Henry
By: Ezra Jack Keats
Created By: Afor Carter
Created By: Afor Carter
John
Henry, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, tells the story
of a fictitious American legend. Through the powerful illustrations,
Keats portrays John Henry as a heroic man with much importance in
society. Keats uses bold colors throughout the story, which help
stimulate the reader's emotions. In the late
1930s, Keats worked as a mural painter on WPA projects. He entered the
Army in 1943, where he designed camouflage patterns. Later,
Keats created five greeting cards about peace for UNICEF's first
greeting card season ... A million cards were sold that year. Another
one of Keats accomplishments is, a
life-size bronze statue of Peter, Willie, and Peter's chair sits in
Imagination Playground in Brooklyn's Prospect Park.
Ezra Jack Keats
John Henry's importance is first revealed in the opening of the story. Unusual, marbalized paper illustrations accompany the words that tell of the night noises welcoming John Henry into the world. Even as a newborn child, he is the focus of the story, taking up an entire page in the book. When John Henry realizes his own strength, he makes the decision to leave his family and go out into the world. When a storm strikes, John Henry's first act of bravery comes into play. The storm nearly causes a ship to sink, but John Henry is able to gain respect and admiration from others by bringing their ship to safety. John Henry, who was born with a hammer in his hand, feels called to go help build railroads. Henry's next opportunity to be the hero occurs when a lit fuse burns closely to dynamite in a cave, causing a very dangerous situation. Trying to put out the fuse, John Henry first trips and falls, but recovers by putting out the flame with his hammer. This shows that the hammer and John Henry are of equal importance; without his hammer, he is only an ordinary man. After proving himself to be a hero, John Henry develops a feeling of much confidence in himself. When told about an extremely powerful steam drill, John Henry states that he is more powerful and can drill more holes faster than six men combined. The hammer appears to be moving so fast that it becomes almost a blur. Throughout John Henry's battle with the machine, people watch with admiration. John Henry continued to hammer, even after the steam machine collapsed. His goal was to break through the tunnel and when light began to shine through, everyone saw that his goal was reached. With hard work and determination, John Henry once again proved himself to be a hero. He died while walking out of the tunnel, carrying not one, but two hammers.
Question:
1. Can you remember a time when you tried to beat someone in a game of completing a task?
(Share with the class)
2. According to the story do you think John Henry completed everything that he want to complete?
Ezra Jack Keats
John Henry's importance is first revealed in the opening of the story. Unusual, marbalized paper illustrations accompany the words that tell of the night noises welcoming John Henry into the world. Even as a newborn child, he is the focus of the story, taking up an entire page in the book. When John Henry realizes his own strength, he makes the decision to leave his family and go out into the world. When a storm strikes, John Henry's first act of bravery comes into play. The storm nearly causes a ship to sink, but John Henry is able to gain respect and admiration from others by bringing their ship to safety. John Henry, who was born with a hammer in his hand, feels called to go help build railroads. Henry's next opportunity to be the hero occurs when a lit fuse burns closely to dynamite in a cave, causing a very dangerous situation. Trying to put out the fuse, John Henry first trips and falls, but recovers by putting out the flame with his hammer. This shows that the hammer and John Henry are of equal importance; without his hammer, he is only an ordinary man. After proving himself to be a hero, John Henry develops a feeling of much confidence in himself. When told about an extremely powerful steam drill, John Henry states that he is more powerful and can drill more holes faster than six men combined. The hammer appears to be moving so fast that it becomes almost a blur. Throughout John Henry's battle with the machine, people watch with admiration. John Henry continued to hammer, even after the steam machine collapsed. His goal was to break through the tunnel and when light began to shine through, everyone saw that his goal was reached. With hard work and determination, John Henry once again proved himself to be a hero. He died while walking out of the tunnel, carrying not one, but two hammers.
Question:
1. Can you remember a time when you tried to beat someone in a game of completing a task?
(Share with the class)
2. According to the story do you think John Henry completed everything that he want to complete?
Johnny Appleseed
Retold and Illustrated by Steven Kellog
Created by: Rachel Mason
Johnny Appleseed's real name was John Chapman. He was born September 26, 1774 near Leominster, Massachusetts. He spent 49 years of his life planting apple orchards in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Johnny wanted to make sure that no person went hungry. To this day, many of his trees still bear apples. Johnny was a simple and friendly man, whose favorite book was the bible. His clothes were made from sacks, and he wore a tin pot for a hat. There are many tales about Johnny Appleseed, all of them describing a nice, caring, and brave man.
Steven Kellog has retold the story of Johnny in his book, Johnny Appleseed. Kellog chronicles Johnny's travels with stories and detailed illustrations.
Steven Kellog
Johnny Appleseed
Questions:
Can you tell about a time when you helped to make our world a better place like Johnny Appleseed did?
Johnny Appleseed loved to read and his favorite book was the Bible. What are some of you favorite books?
