Outreach Storytime, Fractured Fairytales-Cinderella

I do a joint K-1-2 storytime once a month, usually the 3 classes equal about 50 kids. We meet in the hallway between the gym and the rear entrance to the school (not my choice, it is freezing!). While this is not ideal, the kids are fantastic. This year I wanted to focus on comparing and contrasting skills, so we stared with discussing the Cinderella story. We talked about characters and basic plot. Then we read Cinderella's Rat by Susan Meddaugh.


We discussed how the story and characters were different from the Cinderella story we told at the beginning. This led to a quick discussion about multiple viewpoints.

I brought out the giant post-it note pad and tried to play the ABC animals game (naming an animal that starts with each letter of the alphabet), but some of the older kids got a little too rowdy, so we didn't get to finish.

We moved into reading Seriously, Cinderella is so Annoying by Trisha Shaskan.



We talked about how different characters had different viewpoints and how a single story can be distorted depending on who is telling it.

We ran out of time before I could tell the 'piece de resistance'- the tale of Rindercella. I was introduced to this story by a worship leader in college who would tell this story at the beginning of every year to get a few laughs and introduce himself. The origins of this story come from Matthew Goldman, and is called a spoonerism tale; many of the first letters of words are mixed up. It is difficult to read, but so exciting to say out loud. It is by far my favorite story to tell with the school-age kids (I think I tell it at least once a year).