Evan Moor Fairy Tale and Folktale Pockets: A Review

Why I Chose the Evan Moor Folktale and Fairytale Pockets, Grades 2 and 3

With two middle elementary students in the house, I wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget to do some fun, younger activities for our kindergartener. He’s always tagging along with our school time, a little ahead of himself, and I wanted to dip back into the precious early years of learning. I also wanted to try matching him with his 8 year old sister for a project, and give our eldest a independent project.

We really enjoyed the Evan Moor Native American Pockets last year, and I’ve had my eye on the Folktale and Fairy Tale Pockets for a while.  We started them just after the New Year, as something different to spice up our learning time during the winter slump.

They have indeed spiced things up, and provided the magic that fairy tales bring, something I don’t ever want to lose in our home.  Our ten year old did her own project and then begged to sit down with us every day because she couldn’t stand to miss the fun. We let her, of course.  If you’re homeschooling multiple children, these pockets are quite a find, a nice break from balancing multiple projects with many children.  It’s easy to simplify for younger children and add in more challenging connections for your olders.

You can read more about what’s included in the pockets here.  I enjoyed the e-book, knowing that I could print just the right amount of copies for our family.

What We Liked

The selection of fairy tales included a handful of favorites and a handful of surprises.  Each story includes suggestions for extending the lessons and several hands on activities.  We enjoyed making finger puppets, a story mobile, paper doll elves, painting, and more.

What Needed Adjustment

As was true with our last Evan Moor Pockets, we needed library books to supplement each slim two page fairy tale that was included.  I also would have enjoyed more background information for my own preparation, such historical information on the folktales and fairytales along with a comparison of the two genres.

Because the focus of the activities involves a lot of cutting and coloring, we can only do these pockets once or twice a year.  My kids are not big on coloring, preferring to sketch and fill in their own designs. But for some reason, coloring becomes all the rage when we keep these types of activities rare.  If you’re doing these pockets with just one student, you might think about coloring along with your child or allowing him the choice of coloring or not.  Remember, coloring a picture in the lines is really an overrated skill!  You could also move beyond crayons and markers and try watercolors, acrylics, or pastels.

How We Organized the Pockets
As much as we loved the Native American Pockets, our hard work ended with a bulky, oversized, unstable product.  This time we made the pockets the right size for a three ring binder. Smaller projects were stored in the pocket, larger items(such as the printed fairy tale) were hole punched and added after the pocket.

Suggestions for Extended Activities:

• Write your own fairy tale.
• Write a new ending to an already written tale.
• Write a fairy tale from the perspective of a different character (the frog or the witch instead of the Princess, for example).
• Ask an older child to adapt a fairy tale into a play for younger siblings.
• Read a biography about The Grimm Brothers.

Here are some pictures from our learning time.

The Brave Little Tailor

The Fisherman and His Wife

This was an art project inspired here, not an Evan Moor activity.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Measuring the beanstalk, an activity from the pockets.

The Elves and the Shoemaker

The template for these elves is included, the background is courtesy of the American Girl Molly Paper Dolls.

The Frog Prince

The Bremen Town Musicians

This painting activity is inspired by a project in the pockets, but we based our illustrations on the style of Hans Fischer, shown below.

Book and Video Suggestions:

Henny Penny

• Henny Penny by Jane Wattenberg
• Chicken Little by Ed and Rebecca Emberley
• Chicken Little on this Scholastic DVD Edition

The Brave Little Tailor

• The Brave Little Seamstress by Mary Pope Osborne

The Fisherman and His Wife

• The Fisherman and His Wife by Rachel Isadora
• Shadow Puppet Version on this Scholastic Video

The Elves and the Shoemaker

• The Elves and the Shoemaker on this Scholastic Video Collection

The Frog Prince

• The Frog Prince or Iron Henry by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Illustrated by Binette Schroeder
• The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Sczeika

The Bremen Town Musicians

The Bremen Town Musicians by Hans Fischer

Other Fun Read-Alouds or Older Child

• The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper
• The Sister’s Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley *

Videos

Into the Woods **

*Parents may want to preview this selection.

** The musical is a really fun twist on fairy tales and a nice way to wrap up your fairy tale pockets.  However, you’ll want to preview this video and decide if it’s right for your family.  We chose to watch only the first act (which is as long as a regular kids movie) as we liked the content of the second half less.  And we didn’t like the scene with the wolf (it will be rather obvious why), so we just skipped that scene.