Lesson plans for teaching Aesop's Fables

"Honesty is the best policy," "Slow and steady wins the race" and others with brief plot summaries of the stories of origin.

Students become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures. They learn how both types of folktales employ various animals in different ways to portray human strengths and weaknesses and to pass down wisdom from one generation to the next.

This Scroll down to find "Aesop and Fitting In," a lesson for elementary school involving the story of the miller, his son, and their donkey. Skills addressed include reading for detail, making inferences, and vocabulary. Access to this 8-page document requires Adobe Reader.

Click at the top to turn the pages of this 1874 illustrated edition.

This collection of fables has been illustrated by art students. The fables include both traditional illustration and a retelling with graphics that bring the moral to a modern setting. This is a great resource to encourage student reading.

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Text of the fables in a variety of formats, including EPUB, Kindle, and plain text.

Students learn about Aesop and adapt his fables to contemporary times. This WebQuest is designed for 5th graders.

Prereading, discussion questions, followup activities, related Web sites and titles. Access to this 2-page document requires Adobe Reader or compatible application.

Story, vocabulary, and discussion questions.

This lesson blends math and art with literature and film using Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher." The class will discuss the fable and its meaning. The class will compare the fable as a book and as a short film. Each student will design his or her own puppet and act out the fable using pebbles and water in containers. Students will also make predictions and then compare them to actual results. Finally, the class will see fiction become fact when introduced to a biologist聮s observations of a bird similar to the crow. Designed for grades K-4.

Students will use their understanding of fable elements to create an original fable and present it in dramatic form.

This read-aloud anthology is designed for first grade. It includes texts, vocabulary, and literacy activities for "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "The Maid and the Milk Pail," "The Goose and the Golden Eggs," "The Dog in the Manger," "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," "The Fox and the Grapes," "The Little Half-Chick (Medio Pollito)," "The Crowded, Noisy House," "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," and "All Tales are Anansi's." Adobe Reader required. 178 pages.

Story, vocabulary, and discussion questions.

In this unit primary students develop literacy skills by responding to different fables by Aesop. This 28-page document requires Adobe Reader or compatible application for access.

In this video segment from Between the Lions , Cleo reads "The Lion and the Mouse," illustrating an effective read-aloud and how children can learn through their interactions with books: talking about a story as it is being read, asking questions, and sharing responses. The downloadable video is 4 minutes, 19 seconds long. Scroll down on the page for analysis and teaching tips.