Learning Outcomes Myths and Legends
Myths attempt to answer the questions like: 1) Who are we? 2) How did we get here? 3) Where are we going?
There are three types of myths:
- Cultural
- Religious
- Personal
The Skills Checklist Levels 1-4 relates to the skills/activities mentioned
Comparisons between different ways of finding information
Using ICT skills as selected from below
Asking questions and finding information and presenting conclusions
Investigation Questions
Try to get pupils to brainstorm these and others themselves as part of the information process. Here are some to get you started.
- Why do people create myths and legends?
- What makes a good myth/legend?
- What are myths/legends mainly about?
- Do some countries/people groups have more myths/legends than others? Why?
- What do myths/legends have in common? (Beginning, middle, end, types of characters, situations that characters encounter, gender bias,)
- Can we find different versions of the same myth/legend? Why does this happen?
- Can myths/legends be true or partly true?
- If we were to give each myth/legend a rating how would we do this?
Wordprocessor
Example skills: getting to know keyboard, put picture on, make bold, use styles/fonts, saving, using spellchecker.
- Write a caption sentence for a handdrawn picture. (Get pupils to highlight their best word and make it bold, or italic etc.
- Create a title page. Just the words…do them in ‘WordArt’ form. Put border around. Insert clipart etc.
- Design a page that looks like this (junior example)
- Adjust complexity to level of pupils. It could also be dragging and dropping sentences that are the plot of the story. They need to highlight them and drag or copy and paste them to the correct sequence in which they happened.
- Write a chart that compares movie and book versions of the same legend. What are the main differences... why? What do the different media mean to the telling of a legend?
Art & Design (back to Top)
- Use KidPix/Painting program to create your own fantasy creature
- Draw an illustration to go with a fantasy book you have read
- Create a cover on the computer for a blown up book
Spreadsheets (back to Top)
Example Skills: Entering Data, graphing, answering questions/theories using data collected
What types of fantasy characters are mostly found in our ‘fantasy books’? How popular are fantasy books compared to non-fiction? Why do we think authors write fantasy books? (think up the ideas, get people to make their best choice and graph this. Interview an author or send them an e-mail). What do we think about the characters we meet in a book; graph reactions on a scale from, “very bad..bad..O.K…mean..nice..very good”, to characters in a fantasy story.
- Graph number found verses type
- Graph gender or age differences in reaction to above questions or other investigation questions
- Make a table and sort it into different orders
Databases (back to Top)
Example skills: Entering info in database, graphing, sorting data into sets
Example questions:
Fields such as: Name, classification of character, gender, rating (by pupils), comments
Internet (see Other IT below) (back to Top)
Search on keywords on the WWW for information, to find answers to questions, to look at other classes’ sites on fantasy.`
Presentation Software (Edmark, PowerPoint, Keynote) (back to Top)
Skills Examples: Recording voice, editing recorded sounds, putting sounds into a ‘talking book’
- Use some of the ideas in the Wordprocessor section but make some of them an oral presentation or slideshow
- Draw fantasy creatures
- Voice over poems, scary sounds or music (listen to some movie films to investigate how scary music is created), fantasy music sounds, narration about what the fantasy creature likes (where it lives, what adaptive features it has etc)
- Use clipart to stamp, or insert clipart that fits with the theme
Other Forms of IT
Listening/watching post
- Listen to fantasy stories on tape/video. You may even decide to tape parts of journals/stories or your own ideas/poems.
- Watch a fantasy/legend movie (Alladin/Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Beauty and the Beast
- There are a number of legend resources available at the National Library some are listed below
- Maori Legends of N.Z. (Sound Recording - 5 tapes) National Library
- The Legend of Mauao (Mt Manganui) and other Legends (Sound Recording) National Library
- Hinemoa and Tutanekai and Other Legends (Sound Recording) National Library
- Bull from the Sea (Greek) (Sound Recording) National Library
ICT Technology (Communications Technology)
Skills comparing different types of CT. Compare the ways of finding information to discuss the strengths/weaknesses of each. Continue over the year to send E-mails, faxes, have conference calls with a pen-pal class. Either as individuals/groups/ whole class.
Email or Instant Message to expert ~ drawn or written or both (authors, schools with sites with fantasy content.)
Send a fax with questions ( to a fantasy author)
Conference Phone: Carry out a similar process to above.
E-Mail: one of the schools who already have carried out the topic. Check out any of the collaborative project sites mentioned on the links page (Aslo see links below)
Digital/Video Camera
- Take pictures of artwork to include in a digital slideshow
- Take pictures of pupils involved in activities throughout the unit
- Take snapshots of children acting out parts of a myth. Frozen statues representing the main plot of the myth/story. Present in software or print.
- Make a short fantasy movie or act out a myth
Away from the Computer
Colour/paint outlines of creatures designed on computer
A blown up book myth or legend for another class/ reading buddy etc.
Resources (back to Top)
Keywords for this unit
Use a thesaurus or encyclopaedia for more: Fantasy, myths, legends, tales
