One of the magical things about reading is the ability to learn about places, cultures, and people without ever being there. These printables, questions to ask, books and videos make The Bremen Town Musicians lesson plan a collection of activities that will help your child learn and understand the story in fun and memorable way.
The Bremen Town Musicians is a fairy tale that transports us back in time to a more simple life where princesses and princes rule the land and there’s always an adventure right around the corner. The Bremen Town Musicians was recorded by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in their 1857 edition of “Childrens and Household Tales — Grimms Fairy Tales” and is part of the animals in exile type of story.
This collection of videos, books, and activities of The Bremen Town Musicians will help your child learn and remember the story. They should be able to tell the beginning, middle, and end of the story using narrative language to describe people, places, things, locations, events, actions, a scene or facts in the story. They should be encouraged to ask questions about the story to clarify the information. As you read with them, point out the difference between the animals and how those differences help them survive in the world.
Compare and contrast the different versions of the story at the end. The more you can get a child to think about the story, how it is told, what time period, the more they will come to learn that stories are more than just words. They are an entry into a wonderful world of imagination.
Bremen Town Musician PRINTABLES
- Print out iintegrateTechnology’s story line sequence cards. These will help you keep track of the story as you read, or view, each version. Also note that she has found iTunes apps for the story!
- Scroll to page 6 to print out images of the Bremen Town Musicians characters to use for a storyboard.
- While you watch the videos of the story you can color a picture of The Bremen Town Musicians.
Bremen Town Musicians BOOKS
- Read the story online
- The Bremen Town Musicians by Brothers Grimm (Author), Lisbeth Zwerger (Illustrator)
- The Bremen Town Musicians by Brothers Grimm (Author), Gerda Muller (Illustrator)
Bremen Town Musicians VIDEOS
The Muppets did a version of the story. There are 6 videos in all because the story is broken up. Just watch them in succession. (Who doesn’t love Kermit, right?) Each segment is about 9 minutes long, there are 6 parts.
Bremen Town Musicians GEOGRAPHY
Take a walking tour of Bremen during Christmas (Moms, this is a beautiful but also your kids can hear what the German language sounds like when spoken by native speakers!
Download the Chrome browser extension to translate any page into your native language. Then explore daily life in Bremen in the 21st century from their city’s website.
Bremen Town Musicians QUESTIONS TO ASK
- What is Donkey’s problem? How does he set out to solve this problem?
- What is Dog’s problem? How does he set out to solve this problem?
- How do Donkey and Dog get along? Why do you think that is?
- What is Cat’s problem?
- Why do you think Dog and Cat don’t fight?
- What is Rooster s problem?
- Why do you think Rooster fits into the group?
- Why do you think the animals decide to become musicians?
- What is the first problem they face when they get to Bremen? How do they solve it?
- Where does each animal pick to sleep? Why do they sleep in different places?
- Can you recall the events of the robbers breaking into house first, next, and last?
- What goals did the animals achieve after scaring off the robbers?
- Can you think of a time when you worked together with someone to achieve a goal? What happened?
- How did that make you feel afterwards?
CONCLUSION
This lesson is based on the scope and sequence in the book, “What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know (Revised and updated): Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning ” written by E.D. Hirsch Jr. which is available from Amazon.