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Tall Tales Project

DO YOU TEACH TALL TALES?

One of my favorite ways to wrap up a tall tales unit is having students write their own tall tale and publishing their stories as TALL creations. I first discovered this incredible idea from Layers of Learning who provides wonderful resources for the activity in THIS blog post. Since then, I have seen many similar tall tale creations all around Pinterest. Therefore I am not sure who exactly to credit for this adorable activity!

MODELING TALL TALES

When it comes to learning about tall tales I always find that modeling with mentor texts is the most powerful way to convey the craft. Students need to understand that tall tales are exaggerated stories of real life events. Some of my favorite tall tale stories are listed in my Amazon affiliate links below:

     

THE WRITING ACTIVITY

Once you feel like your students have a firm understanding of tall tales, have them write their own! They will turn their final draft into a TALL character:

One of my favorite ways to wrap up a tall tales genre unit is having students write their own tall tale and publishing their stories as TALL creations. Come grab a free Google Docs template for students to type their stories.

Their creations make one of the most adorable bulletin boards in my opinion:

One of my favorite ways to wrap up a tall tales genre unit is having students write their own tall tale and publishing their stories as TALL creations. Come grab a free Google Docs template for students to type their stories.


This is a great time to talk to students about figurative language, most specifically hyperboles

Layers of Learning had their students write out their tall tales using the templates they created HERE. I like to have my students TYPE their stories after they have written their rough drafts and edited. To do this I simply give my students a Google Doc or Word Doc template that is split into three columns. Click the image below for the Google Doc template (if you would like a template in Word, click the image below and go to File>Download As>Microsoft Word).

One of my favorite ways to wrap up a tall tales genre unit is having students write their own tall tale and publishing their stories as TALL creations. Come grab a free Google Docs template for students to type their stories.
Be sure you are logged into your Google account in order to grab your copy



I really love Google Drive for writing activities for a variety of reasons. You can read all about them HERE and HERE.


Tell your students to just keep typing and the "magical" doc will place their words in the columns automatically (even if they have to go to the next page). They do not need to play with the formatting! Once they have typed their story, have them print, cut their story into strips, put their story in order and tape together into one long vertical strip. 

Do you teach your students about tall tales? Check out this fun way to wrap up a unit by having your students write their own tall tale and turn it into a TALL masterpiece. Free Google Doc & Word template included for students to type their stories!
The fun part begins when students transform their vertical strip (the body) into a visual representation of the main character in their tall tale. I just lay out construction paper, pom-poms, felt, string, feather, googlie eyes and whatever else is in the craft junk draw and let the students CREATE, CREATE, CREATE. They can add a head, arms, hands, legs, feet/shoes and accessories!

I love this writing activity because of the visual larger than life appeal. It truly makes a tall tale unit memorable! A few years after my first time carrying out this project I ran into a student in the grocery store. She said, "Miss Goode, do you remember my Tall Tale character I created that was practically as tall as me? I'll never forget that tall tales are exaggerations of stories. That was so fun!" šŸ™Œ

What are some other ways we can have fun with tall tales in the classroom?

OTHER TALL TALE RESOURCES: