Grade Level:
Four

Competency Goals:
Language Arts Goal 4: The learner will use language for aesthetic and personal response.
Social Studies Goal 2: The learner will assess the influence of major religions, ethical beliefs, and aesthetic values on life in North Carolina.

Objective:
Students will read a Cherokee myth and add to it with creative writing.

Time:
30-45 minutes

Materials:
The Origin of Strawberries story, one copy per student
The Origin of Strawberries worksheet, one copy per student
Pencils, one per student

Procedure:
1. Introduce the lesson by asking students to name stories that include plants as a central focus. Explain that many cultures include plants in their stories because plants have been important for food, healing, beauty, and tools.

Every culture has folktales in which plants are instrumental to the plot. Plants have caused princesses to fall into deep sleep (“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”), identified royalty (“The Princess and the Pea”), and even been the center of economic debate (“Jack and the Beanstalk”). In this Native American story, strawberries are created to unite an estranged couple.

2. Distribute the myth The Origin of Strawberries for students to read.

3. After the students finish reading the myth, instruct them to add another “chapter” to the story. After all the students have finished writing, have them read their additions aloud.

4. As an alternative group activity, pick one student to add a few sentences to the ending of the myth. That student will hand the paper to another student, who will add another two to three sentences. This pattern will be repeated until all the students have had a chance to add to the original myth. After all the students have added to the myth, choose a student to read the “new” myth aloud.