top of page
Teacher's Packet

The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin

Welcome, Dear Teacher!

Thank you for selecting The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin for your class. We hope to provide you with suggestions, guidelines, and activities for your “Donkey Skin Month”!

Please find in this section:

  1. Suggestions for reading the book in class

  2. A list of suggestions for projects and research

  3. A list of the vocabulary from The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin

  4. A crossword puzzle

  5. A comprehension quiz disguised as trivia game

  6. You can access this comprehension quiz as well as a vocabulary quiz on Kahoot!

Hope your students enjoy this book!

The May Fairy

Reading in a Group

The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin

 

First Read

  1. Considerations:

    1. The purpose of the first read is to have the students understand and follow the plot and generally enjoy the process. As such, any technical issue such as new vocabulary should be kept at a minimum so as not to obstruct the flow of enjoyment of the story.

    2. The main technical issue however is reading fluency. Most children become frustrated with reading because of their poor fluency. They then will avoid reading since they cannot enjoy the story. Avoidance leads to their fluency not improving and starts a vicious cycle.

    3. Therefore, it is most critical to have the students’ first exposure to a book to be a joyous one, unimpeded by decoding or reading issues.

    4. Thus, the best way to introduce the book is to select one or more of your top readers, and assign them the role of the grandson: Zakiyy.

    5. The teacher will then read the grandmother’s role: Nainai.

  2. Method:

    1. Student/s and teacher take turns reading out loud.

    2. Emphasis on expression

    3. Feel free to stop in order to answer the children’s questions.

    4. Depending on the children’s ages, you may need to stop and explain some of the terms, or issues.

 

 

Second Read

  1. The purpose of the Second Read is to review the story, better understand the characters, dwell over whatever delighted the readers during the First Read and initiate a dialogue.

  2. For this purpose, you may now assign different students to read out loud, taking care to give the parts of Nainai (which can further be subdivided into paragraphs) to the better readers and the parts of Zakiyy to the weaker readers.

  3. Just as Nainai stops to allow Zakiyy to ask questions and discuss the issues, you may stop and discuss any issues the children might have.

  4. During this Second Read, you may reinforce the students’ ability at fluency and expression by telling them for instance, “Wait! Is this how the Duke of Normandy would say it? You need to make your voice very “syrupy”, you know, thick like honey. Pretending to be nice. And since he’s old, make your voice old. Try reading it again with that kind of voice!” You may even model it. Make the student repeat it until he gets the voice and expression right. Thus he will have read the sentence 3 or more times without realizing it, improving his fluency in the process.


​

front cover of Donkey Skin with both awards.jpg

Crossword

Crossword
Solution

Suggestions for Research and Projects

 

Many topics are mentioned or discussed in The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin. They are great for further research or discussion. A number of these topics are listed below, with questions to jump start the direction of the research.

 

Charles Perrault

  1. Who was Charles Perrault?

  2. When and where did he live?

  3. Which are his most famous fairy tales?

Depression

  1. How many types of depression are there?

  2. What are the symptoms of depression?

  3. How can one cure depression?

  4. How prevalent is this mental problem?

Design Projects

  1. After her marriage with the prince, Gomikky asked the wicked wizard tailor for one more dress. What was the dress? Describe it, and draw it.

  2. The King wanted to propose to the Fairy Godmother. He decided to give her a beautiful set of jewelry made of coral and pearls: a necklace, a pair of earrings and a ring. Design and draw this set.

Education in the Middle Ages

  1. Which French Emperor established the first “schools” in Europe?

  2. What did children of wealthy or aristocratic families study?

  3. What jobs were available for women in the Middle Ages? Why would an educated woman become a governess?

Historical and Geographical Facts

  1. How many kings of France were named Louis?

  2. If there really was a King Louis the Fourth and a Half, round about which year would he have reigned?

  3. Would he have been a Capetian or a Carolingian?

  4. Draw the map of France during the time of the kings Louis IV and Louis V. Was it larger or smaller than today’s France?

  5. What was Francia (the Frankish Empire)?

  6. What were stem duchies (in Germany)?

History of Zoos

  1. When and where were the earliest zoos?

  2. Where does the word “zoo” come from?

  3. What is a menagerie?

The Plague

  1. What was the plague?

  2. How many types of plague were there?

  3. How could you tell you got the plague?

  4. How could one get infected?

  5. Is the plague still present today?

  6. Where in the world is it still present?

  7. Could the plague bacteria be used as a biological weapon?

  8. How many plague pandemics were there?

  9. Is there any poison that produces symptoms like the plague’s?

  10. How realistic is Nainai’s theory that it was the Duke who poisoned the Queen and made it look like she’d had the plague?

 

Reproduction in Flowering Plants

  1. Are flowering plants male, female, or both?

  2. Which part of a flowering plant is the male part?

  3. Which part of a flowering plant is the female part?

  4. How is pollen transmitted from the male to the female part of the flower? Or from one flower to another?

  5. How many female date palm trees can be fertilized by one male date palm tree?

  6. Discuss why some flowers are either colorful, fragrant and or striated (rose, hibiscus) while others are inconspicuous, small, and without fragrance (dandelions)?

 

Theater Project

  1. Rewrite the story as a play.

  2. Add songs

  3. Add dances

Vocabulary

Vocabulary List

Vocabulary Test

Play the Vocabulary Quiz on Kahoot!

Comprehension

Comprehension 
Quiz

Answers
Comprehension
Quiz

Play the Comprehension Trivia on Kahoot!

bottom of page