Julie & The Lost Fairy Tale 
 Lesson Plans For Teachers and Homeschoolers


Fairy tale: A highly imaginative story to teach a lesson.

This lesson plan contains the ideas and suggestions from the author for teachers to use along with the book in the classroom. Feel free to modify the lessons to your students needs.

After you read each chapter:

• Make a list of words you don't know and look them up in the dictionary.
• Make up a sentence for your new words.
•  Keep a writer's notebook for your new words and sentences.
• Draw your own picture or take your own photographs for each chapter. Keep a scrapbook for your drawings or photographs.

Chapter One

Questions for class discussion

1.              What was Julie was looking for in the attic?

2.              Why is Julie afraid?

3.              What are some things you are afraid of?

Activities

1.              Can you find Covington, Georgia on a map?

2.              Do you know someone who can speak or write in a language other than English? Interview them and write a paragraph on what you learned.

Chapter Two

Questions for class discussion

1.              How many years was the travel chest was in the attic?

2.              The fairy tale was written in what language.

3.              Julie made a promise to Cordelia. Why do you think she made that promise?

Activities

1. Ellis Island is in New York. Can you find it on a map? Why is Ellis Island an important part of our history?
2. Using the vocabulary words kindred spirits or time capsule make up a sentence or a story.

Chapter Three

Questions for class discussion

1.              What did Grandma copy in the notebook for Julie?

2.              Who does Julie show the letter to?

3.              What does Julie decide to do?

4.              Who does Julie plan to meet?

Activities

1. Name a magazine that publishes stories for children and tell us why you like those magazines.
2. Find a library near to where you live on a map. Write a paragraph about how your library can help you.
3. Find your local newspapers office on the map. Interview someone who reads the newspaper on how the local newspaper helps people in your community.

Chapter Four

Questions for Discussion

1. Why was Julie afraid to enter the newspaper office?
2. What was the reason she didn't let her fear stop her?
3. Did Julie give up after she was sent away? Why do you think she didn't give up?

Activities

1. Write a short story about yourself or someone else that was afraid of something but didn't give up.
2. Did you know that some magnolia trees grow to be sixty feet tall?  Read about them in an encyclopedia and find a picture of the flowers that grow on magnolia trees.

Chapter Five

Questions for Discussion

1. How does a little squirrel help Julie?
2. What does Julie say to try to convince Mr. Malloy to print the fairy tale in the local newspaper?
3. What would you have told Mr. Malloy?

Activities

1. Find some pictures of squirrels and note the differences in size and color according to where they live and the climate they live in.
2. Write down several behaviors squirrels have.

Chapter Six

Questions for Discussion

1.              Why does Grandma say Julie is impulsive?

2.              What kind of relationship do you think Julie and her grandmother have?

3.              Why is Julie worried?

Activities

1. Write a short story about a grandparent and a grandchild doing something together.
2. Name some things you can learn from grandparents or older people.

Chapter Seven

Questions for Discussion

1. What history did Julie learn about by listening to the older people in the town-square?
2. Why was Julie excited about the Extravaganza?
3. What things did Julie and her grandma look for to post on their history board?

Activities

1. Ask someone in your family where some of your ancestors came from.
2. Can you think of some things you would put on your family history board?

Chapter Eight

Questions for Discussion

1.              Why was Julie excited about the letter she read in Mr. Malloy's office?

2.              Why do you think it was going to be hard to keep the letter a secret?

3.              Do you think Julie will keep the secret?

Activities

1. Find on a map where Cordelia lives and where she is going.
2. Describe a place far away you would like to visit one day.

Chapter Nine

Questions for Discussion

1. Why did Julie and her grandma go into the firehouse; and what do they see when they get there?
2. How did the people dress in the pictures on the family history boards?
3. Do you think it was easy to leave their homelands and come to America? Explain.

Activities

1. Look up Ellis Island on a web site or in books at your library.
2.  Pick a country and pretend you are traveling from that country to America and write a list of changes you may have to make along the way.

Chapter Ten

Questions for Discussion

1.              How does Grandma take Julie back in time?

2.              What are some things that happened on the ship, Kaiser Wilhelm and why did they happen?

3.              What competition took place on the ship and what effect did it have on the passengers?

Activities

1. Name some ships that came through Ellis Island.
2. Write a short story about what you think it would be like to travel across the seas on a ship long ago.

Chapter Eleven

Questions for Discussion

1.              Who does Julie meet in this chapter and why is it so emotional for Julie?

2.              What did Cordela have a difficult time doing?

3.              What dream did Julie and Cordelia both have?

Activities

1. Find some dictionaries in the library that translate English into another language.
2. Pick three words from the story of Julie. Ask someone you know who speaks another language to write three words in their language. Or you can find them in a dictionary and copy them down.

Chapter twelve

Questions for Discussion

1.              If your town had an Extravaganza what kind of food would they serve?

2.              What kind of decorations would you choose if you were doing the decorating for the Extravaganza?

3.              What were some of the townsfolk talking about, and why?

Activities

1. Get together in small groups and come up with a plan for an Extravaganza.
2. Make sure you include plans for decorating, a menu, invitations and entertainment.
3. Divide up the work and then discuss your plans as a group.
4. Write down your group ideas to share with the class. Don't forget to write the reasons for your choices.

Chapter Thirteen

Questions for Discussion

1. Who was Mr. Halverson and what does he agree to do with the lost fairy tale?
2. What was Cordelia invited to do?
3. How would you have felt if you were there?

Activities

1. Bring some of your favorite picture books to class.  Tell why you liked the story.
2. If you do not have any picture books at home you can go to the library and ask the librarian for help.

Chapter Fourteen

Questions for Discussion

1.              Why did Katrianna and her family have to flee to the mountain?

2.              What things did they bring with them, and why?

3.              How did Katrianna feel when she stood on the mountainside and looked down at the valley below?

Activities

1. Katrianna and her family had to flee their home and became refugees.  Do you know someone who had to flee from his or her homeland?  Have you or your parents read about them in the newspapers?  Has this ever happened to you?
2. Write a paragraph and tell others how you feel about refugees.
3. Get together in small groups and plan what your group could do to help someone who had to flee from his or her homeland like Katrianna.

Chapter Fifteen

Questions for Discussion

1. What happened to Katrianna?
2. Why do you think Katrianna saved the yellow dress and the bag all those years?
3. Julie imagined what in the very end?
4. Why do you think our imaginations are wonderful?
5. What do you think it takes to make dreams come true? 

Activities

1. Share something with the class that you have imagined, or dreamed about. Or share something that you would like to do in the future.
2. Explain what you need to do to make your dream come true.

In Conclusion

Write a review for Julie & The Lost Fairy Tale. If you email them to me I will post some of them on my web site and email you a letter for your class. (Did you know that posting reviews online or in the news is a great way to support an author?) 

Got any ideas you would like to share with other teachers? Send them to me with permission to post them on my web site.  I will review them and post some of them on this page.

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*If you would like me to visit your school please contact your librarian and ask them to invite me for a school visit. I would love to meet your children. 

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Contributed by
Marni McCann
Dennis Township Middle School
Dennisville, NJ 08214

Book Club Booklet-this project can be adapted to any novel that you read in your classroom.  I have adapted it to use for Julie and the Lost Fairy Tale.

Supplies:           12x18 piece of oaktag or construction paper

                        Pencil

                        Colored pencils

Directions for making booklet:

            Hold the 12x18 piece of oaktag so that the 12 inch sides are in your hands and you can fold it in half so that it is now 6x18. 

            Then fold it in half again so that it is 6x9.

            Then hold it so crease is on the left side. Fold the right side over to meet the crease.

            Do the same with the other side. It should now be 6x4.5 and look like a small booklet.

             If you stood it on the table it would form an M.

Hold it so you have one crease in your right hand and two creases will be on the left. The side facing you is the front cover.

(If you can’t figure out how to make a booklet, you could just fold a 12x18 to make 8 boxes and just use one box for each “page” and open it back up so it is  flat, not folded. )

Requirements for pages of booklet:

            Front cover: Students will use the colored pencils to add the following to make a cover of their booklet: title, author, picture of scene, child’s name.

            (page 2)have the students label the page- Predictions as I read: page # and what I think will happen based on story details and prior knowledge. Then number it 1-5.  As they read they will make predictions and write the page # that they were on when this thought came to them.

            (page 3)have the students label the page- Tricky and Interesting Words: page#, word, definition, why I chose it. Then have them number it 1-5.  As they read they will select words that interest them and write them, the page#, what the word means, and why they selected it.

            (page 4+5) have the students label these pages-Senses: label, page # and sentence. They will find one example of each sense and write them here.  They will label each sense, write the page # and the whole sentence from the book that appeals to that sense.

(page 6, what would be the back cover) have the students label this Similes/Metaphors: page #, sentence, label. Then number it 1-5.As they find examples of similes or metaphors they are the write the sentence and page # and label which it is.

(page 7) have the students label this page-Personification: page # and sentence.

Then number it 1-3. As the students read they will add examples of personification by writing the sentence and page # where they appear.

            (page 8) have the students label this page- Connection: label and write in a paragraph. Students will make a text to text, text to self, or text to world connection to this novel.

Execution:

I have the students read one or two chapters a day in a small group of 3 or 4 children.  After they read, they discuss questions from those chapters.  After their discussion, they are to work on completing the pages of their booklet. When all groups are finished answering the questions we discuss them as a class. I randomly call on volunteers to share what they found in what they read that they added to their booklet that day.

Booklets will be due a day after we finish reading the book and discussing the questions.