Are any of you Paul Bunyan fans? No, that’s not Paul Newman; it’s Paul Bunyan (though Paul Newman is quite fine)! I’m speaking of the jumbo logger dude with Babe the Blue Ox. I recently stumbled across an article about this legendary hero. I’m sort of drawn to him since my dad was a lumberjack. Yep, Dad wore flannel shirts and thick black work pants that he cinched up with suspenders. He completed his look with steel-toe boots and a hard hat. And every night, he came home smelling like trees! Much to my chagrin, we did not have a big blue ox. 🙂
Reading about Paul Bunyan and Babe, I was reminded of the fun my students and I had investigating tall-tale heroes. They loved hearing stories and completing activities about Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Slue-Foot Sue, and John Henry (to name a few). When the topic was folklore, there was definitely a renewed interest in reading, writing, math, and even geography!
Do tall-tale heroes make an appearance in your classrooms?
Happily,
Diane
Yes tall tale heroes make an appearance in my class through our shared reading time.
Hi there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Thanks!