The Myths and Legends Shed

The Dragon Slayer

The Hobbit - an unexpected Journey

The opening scenes when Bilbo meets Gandalf for the first time.

Writing tasks

Rewrite sections of the dialogue punctuating correctly.
Use of adverbs to describe the characters actions.
Write in the role of Bilbo either as a diary or a letter expressing his outrage as to what has been requested of him by Gandalf.

The alchemist's letter

Click on the image to watch the video and to view commentary and lesson ideas.

The Tiny Crusader

An ageing blacksmith with fears of becoming useless is caught off guard by an unusual visitor whom may bring with him a new opportunity.

See the film here on Youtube
Here on Vimeo
Visit the creators' websites here:
www.andystifel.com/
www.pbradford.com/
Sound Design: Jessey Drake
jesseydrake.com/
Original Music: Carlos Martin
solfamiredios.com/
© Stifel & Bradford 2012

Teaching Ideas

Write the back story for Ulric the Blacksmith,
Write the story in the 1st person.
Write in the style of a fairy tale.
Steal the tiny knight and take him on adventures of his own.
Create a coat of arms for the knight.
Create 'Tiny Knight' puppets and use speaking and listening tasks to create stories.
Hotseating - tiny knight and Ulric the Blacksmith

Were Dragons Real?

Were dragons real creatures? After making "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real," the Animal Planet team wasn't so convinced that they weren't.

Can be used as a stimulus for writing, children can write their own explanations and reports about mythical creatures in a documentary style.

Use media to make own recordings and documentaries using mythical creature models.

The Girl and The Fox

Ilona is a nine-year-old girl who lives in the wilderness with her mother and father. Food is running low, and when a mysterious fox starts killing their livestock, she has no choice but to track down the strange creature in order to ensure the survival of her family.

At its core, the film is about survival. When a mysterious fox starts killing her family’s livestock, a young girl sets out to track and kill the nefarious creature. What results is a series of encounters that turns the very notion of survival on its head—an examination of how one’s enemy can quickly become one’s saviour.

Teaching Activities
Pause the film after the opening scenes,(before the title screen) what do the children think could be happening to the birds? What will the girl do? What can we say about the setting?

Create the bare bones of the story with the children. (approx 5 - 8) bullet points that map the key points in the story.
Example

Opening Scene - Girl finds dead birds,
Goes in search of the animal killing the ducks,
See the fox for the first time, it jumps over her and runs off,
She catches the fox and pins it down, knife to throat, can't kill it!
It starts to snow and the girl gets lost,
She collapses,
The fox comes and snuggles up to keep her warm,
In the morning her family come to find her and take her home.

After watching the film discuss as a class the moral of the story. Are there any lessons to be learned from this?

Click here to see some work based on Girl and The Fox from Bourne Westfield Academy

Using the 'bare bones' of the story children can give an oral storytelling, with some classes groups can retell 1 or 2 bullet points rather than the whole story.
Teachers can select a specific point in the story to write about. Choose points 3/4 and ask the children to write the narrative for just this section using 'rich description,' focus on the description of the fox and it's swift movement in 3, describe the girl's feelings at this point when it escapes and once again as she looks into it's eyes.

Write the narrative from the fox's perspective, he could describe watching the 'human child,' wondering what she was up to.

Crow Moon

A flock of roosting crows, black as night themselves, are threatened by the advancing shadows at dusk. They need light for protection so with the help of the Raven Chief they take a piece of the sun and use it to save themselves from the darkness.

The Saga of Biorn

An old Viking is determined to reach Valhalla, the warrior's afterlife full of excessive drinking and debauchery. To gain entry he has to die honorably in battle, but he discovers that the right death isn't so easy.

Lots of discussion to be had about Valhalla, What Vikings believed about the afterlife etc
The christian missionaries travelling to Norse countries. The sackings of Lindisfarne etc

King Midas

I love this short version of the King Midas story. It has a modern twist. Midas rings the apartment buzzer at 'Olympus Towers' Dionysus answers and grants Midas's request to turn everything to Gold. He laughs an evil laugh as Midas leaves - perhaps the children could discuss why this is.

Children could also discuss what they would wish/ask for.

The children could rewrite this myth and write a 'two weeks later' section. This could include him becoming rich but then starving to death.

The simple imagery lends itself to comic strip style writing, the images of both Midas and Dionysus are simple to replicate. The children could create a comic strip to retell the story.

Compare with the skittles advert (Click here to view on you tube)

The children can write a narrative about having 'The Midas Touch' deciding what everything turned to when they touched it and describing the consequences.

Arachne

Arachne was a young woman from Lydia, sometimes said to be a princess, who offended Athena, and suffered the consequences. Her story helped serve as a warning to all to take care to not offend the gods. Arachne was gifted in the art of weaving. Not only were her finished products beautiful to look at, but the very act of her weaving was a sight to behold. Nymphs were said to abandon their frolicking to come observe Arachne practice her magic. So remarkable were her works that observers often commented that she must have been trained by the very patron goddess of weaving, Athena herself. Arachne scoffed at this. She was disgusted at being placed in an inferior place to the goddess and proclaimed that Athena herself could not do better than her.

Athena was quite perturbed at Arachne's bold claim, but she decided to give the young woman a chance to redeem herself. She came to Arachne disguised as an old woman and warned her to be careful not to offend the gods, lest she incur their wrath. But Arachne told the old woman to save her breath. She welcomed a contest with Athena, and, if she lost, would suffer whatever punishment the goddess deemed necessary.

The goddess accepted the challenge and revealed her true form. The nymphs who had come to watch Arachne's weaving shrunk back in fear, but Arachne stood her shaky ground. She had made a claim, and she was sticking to it. So the contest began, the mortal at her loom, the goddess at hers. Athena began to weave the scene of her contest with Poseidon for the city of Athens. A beautiful scene developed from the threads, showing Poseidon and the salt water spring, and Athena with an olive tree, gifts to the people who would name Athena as their patron, and their city after her. The bystanders marveled at the goddess' work.

Arachne, for her part, created a tapestry showcasing scenes of Zeus' various infidelities: Leda with the Swan, Europa with the bull, Dana� and the golden rain shower. So exquisite was the mortal's work that the bull seemed lifelike, swimming across the tapestry with a real girl on his shoulders. Even Athena herself was forced to admit that Arachne's work was flawless. (Whether or not Arachne was actually better than Athena is still a mystery.)

Angered at Arachne's challenge, as well as the presumptuousness of her choice of subjects, Athena tore the tapestry to pieces and destroyed the loom. Then she touched Arachne's forehead, making sure that she felt full guilt for her actions. Arachne was ashamed, but the guilt was far too deep for her poor, mortal mind. Depressed, she hanged herself.

Athena took pity on Arachne. She most likely did not expect that Arachne would commit suicide. She brought her back to life, but not as a human. By sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena transformed the woman into a spider, her and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers.

John Henry
American Tall Tail

Now John Henry was a mighty man, yes sir. He was born a slave in the 1840's but was freed after the war. He went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, don't ya know. And John Henry was the strongest, the most powerful man working the rails.

John Henry, he would spend his day's drilling holes by hitting thick steel spikes into rocks with his faithful shaker crouching close to the hole, turning the drill after each mighty blow. There was no one who could match him, though many tried.

Themes: Physical strength, determination, partnership, the settling of the American West via the Transcontinental railroad. Narration and gospel music intertwined.

Teaching Ideas

Write a biography about John Henry, detailing his early life, war and later challenges.
Write a report about slavery in the USA (History links)
Discuss and then hot-seat different points in the story for example being freed.