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Cinderella Stories Compare and Contrast Lesson Plan, Grades 3–5

Written by Erin Lynch | Dec 6, 2018 10:00:00 PM

Did you know there are hundreds of different Cinderella stories around the world? Use my compare and contrast lesson plan to take your students on an enchanting reading journey where they will explore Cinderella stories around the world. With my free printables, teachers will have everything they need to help students compare and contrast reading passages, characters, story elements and more! Grab my compare and contrast lesson plan for 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade students.

Download the Cinderella Stories Compare and Contrast Lesson Plan now!

Teaching Compare and Contrast Strategies with Different Cinderella Stories

My colleagues and I have been working a lot this year on comparing and contrasting texts on a similar topic with the upper grade students at my school. The ability to compare and contrast is an important reading strategy for students to learn. To put it simply, being able to compare and contrast reading passages improves comprehension by highlighting important details, making abstract ideas more concrete, and reducing confusion between related concepts.

Over the years, no matter what the grade level, I have used Cinderella stories with my students to teach a variety of reading strategies. For those of you unfamiliar with the different versions of Cinderella, here's a bit of background knowledge. It is thought that the original Cinderella story is the Chinese version entitled Yeh Shen. Next came the French version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault (this is the also story the Disney Cinderella is based on). After Perrault's Cinderella, the Brothers Grimm wrote a version. Today there are hundreds of versions of the Cinderella story, written from many different perspectives and cultures.

Compare and Contrast Lesson Plan

Today I'm sharing my 4-day compare and contrast lesson plan using different Cinderella stories from around the world (CCSS 3.9, 4.9, 5.9). My compare and contrast lesson plan is based on the following Cinderella stories:

  • Cinderella by Brothers Grimm
  • Yeh-Shen, author unknown
  • The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
  • The Rough-Faced Girl by Rafe Martin
  • Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

Using these Cinderella stories, you and your students will create Comparison Charts, Venn Diagrams, T-charts, and Webs that show the similarities and differences between the Cinderella stories in order to gain a deeper understanding of each book. Download the 4-day lesson plan for your classroom now!