Three Billy Goats Gruff and Other Tales - Center for Puppetry Arts

Learning Activities
3rd & 4th Grade: Norwegian Folktales and Myths
Georgia Performance Standards covered: Grade 3, English Language Arts and Reading, Writing, ELA3W1
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n; Grade 4, English/Language Arts, Writing, ELA4W1 a, b, c, d; ELA4W2 (Response to
Literature) a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h.
Objective: Students will identify common characteristics of Norwegian folktales and create their own stories
including elements common to Norwegian folklore.
Materials: Sample Norwegian folktales like The Three Billy Goats Gruff and East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
Computers with word processing software or paper and pencils.
Procedure:
1. Discuss the definition of a folktale with your students:
folktale – an imaginative story passed from generation to generation expressed in
fantastic or symbolic terms. Folktales are based on human experience but feature
supernatural or extraordinary elements.
2. Locate Norway on a world map.
3. On the chalk board or chart paper, make a list of elements commonly found in Norwegian folklore:
• Stock characters include a king or queen, a princess or prince, three brothers or three trolls, giants,
or talking animals such as great white bears (as in East of the Sun, West of the Moon), wolves, foxes,
chickens, cats, goats or dragons.
• Many stories explain the origin of the feature of some animal (e.g. why bears have short tails).
• Use of repetition to emphasize what is important.
• Recurring use of the number “three” (trouble that is escalated each time until the third time around
when it is resolved).
• Use of supernatural items like cloaks of invisibility, enchanted swords, tablecloths that bring forth
food when they are laid or a salt mill at the bottom of the ocean.
• A long journey.
• Good rewarded; evil punished.
• A happy ending.
4. Have students write their own folktales using the criteria listed above. Make sure they have thought
about literary elements and techniques such as plot, setting, theme, characters, characterization, conflict,
figurative language, and point of view.
5. Edit and revise stories. Share stories with the class.
Assessment: Check students’ work for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Do their stories have a clear
beginning, middle and end? Do their versions contain the core elements that would place their stories under
the Norwegian folktale category? Save stories for English Language Arts & Reading portfolios.
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