The Paper Bag Princess
Students will be able to develop listening comprehension and inferencing skills through dramatic role plays and writing.
- Activate your students' prior knowledge before starting the lesson. Sample questions to ask include: What are the characteristics of a good friend? What are the characteristics of a bad friend? How should (1) a prince (2) a princess and (3) a dragon look like, act, and say?
- Explain that you will be reading The Paper Bag Princess as a class.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling(15 minutes)
- Read The Paper Bag Princess to your class.
- After reading the story, ask your students some comprehension questions to assess their understanding of the story. Good examples include: Who was the good friend in the story? Who was the bad friend in the story? What makes a good friend? How can you be a good friend?
- Pick a few quotes from the book that illustrate traits about a character or two. Read them to the class.
- Ask your students what they think these quotes say about the character(s).
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling(25 minutes)
- Tell the class that they will practice acting like different characters from the story.
- To start role play, assign students different character roles. To help them get into character, ask questions such as: How would they act if they were the Dragon? Prince Ronald? Princess Elizabeth? This is a great way to check for listening comprehension and build up literacy.
- Cut out holes in the brown paper bag for a head and arms.
- You can also make a paper crown for your princes and princesses using the Floral Jewel Crown worksheet from Education.com.
- Alternatively, you can have students reenact the story as Prince Ronald, Princess Elizabeth, the Dragon, etc. This activity will also strengthen the students’ comprehension, language, and literacy skills.
Independent Working Time(50 minutes)
- After role playing, divide the class into groups of 3-4 to make Storyboard Posters.
- Scan and print out pictures from The Paper Bag Princess, or have the students draw the pictures themselves.
- For each picture, have the group write sentences that summarize what is happening in the story, using their own words.
- Have students glue their pictures and texts onto construction/colored paper. The students are free to decorate their posters however they choose.
- Enrichment: Have more advanced students rewrite Munsch's story. How would the story be different if Princess Elizabeth used something other than a paper bag to clothe herself? What if Prince Ronald was a nicer person? Alternatively, have the students tell and act out the story from the Dragon's point of view.
- Support: Arrange students who need more support into a small group, and guide them through the writing activity. Help the students as needed.
- As you introduce the words, project the words and examples using a document reader or smartboard.
- To assess understanding of The Paper Bag Princess and its theme, ask students some comprehension questions. Good examples include: Who was the good friend in the story? Who was the bad friend in the story? What makes a good friend? How can you be a good friend?
Review and Closing(5 minutes)
- Wrap up the lesson by reiterating some major themes from the story.
- Consider showing your class the cartoon version of The Paper Bag Princess.