In our Fabulously Fresh Folktale Unit, we read many folktales and identified key elements.  We learned that most folktales are stories that have been passed down from generation to generation.  They often teach a lesson or a moral or something is explained in a creative way.  The characters in folktales are usually ordinary people or animals that act like humans.  We learned that personification is the term we use to explain when animals talk and act like humans in literature.  Some other key elements of folktales are that plots begin quickly, characters are one-sided, and all questions are answered before the story ends.  Some common themes in folktales are that wishes may be granted, use of magic objects, use of trickery, and tales that explain "why" or "how" about something.  The students then picked titles out of a hat and wrote their own original folktales.  We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!