Mrs. Horan

Cinderella Project
By Mrs. Horan’s Third Graders
Abilene, Kansas

Objectives:
Enhance reading and writing skills
Develop an appreciation for literature
Participate in an online collaborative project
Work cooperatively toward a common goal

Kansas State Standards for English/Language Arts:
Organize a written piece with a beginning, middle, and end.
Use correct ending punctuation.
Use correct spelling of commonly used words chosen by local district.
Edit for conventions such as capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Summary:
After listening to Fay’s Fairy Tales: Cinderella by William Wegman and studying the illustrations, the class was asked to design a similar project with a “Kansas Twist”. The characters’ names were taken from the Wizard of Oz and adapted to the events in Cinderella. Wegman commonly uses his Weimaraner dogs as themain characters in his stories, photographing them in clothes with human mannerisms. We used photographs of Twister, my Cairn terrier (like Toto in The Wizard of Oz) to play our “Cinderella”. The class was divided into six groups of three to transform the photographs into illustrations for the story.

Cinderella in Oz
by Mrs. Horan’s Third Grade Class

Once upon a time there was a little dog named Twister who lived with Dorothy and her stepmother who was a Wicked Witch. The Wicked Witch wanted to keep Twister in a doghouse. This made Dorothy upset.

Twister was unhappy. She was kept in a doghouse for months. The roof of the doghouse had a hole in it. When it rained, water would come in. The doghouse was stinky and small. She had fleas because the Wicked Witch wouldn’t let Dorothy give her a bath. Twister was chained to the doghouse’s wall and she didn’t get very much food. She didn’t have any toys to play with.

There was a Wizard who lived in a big green castle far away. He wanted a pet to keep him company and to play with. He went to the pet store called Dog World that had everything for dogs. He chose a red and gold collar with jewels on it. He decided to have a big party to find a pet that would fit the collar. He wrote invitations and invited all the dogs in the land.

One night Twister was so unhappy, she cried herself to sleep. Glinda heard Twister crying (as fairy godmothers do). Glinda came to the hole in the roof and peeked in. Glinda asked, “Why are you crying?” “The Wicked Witch won’t let me out of my doghouse,” cried Twister.

“Have you heard about the party the Wizard is having for all the dogs in the land? It’s supposed to help the Wizard find a pet. He has a red and gold collar with jewels on it. The dog that fits it will be his pet. Would you like to go?” asked Glinda.

“When is it?” asked Twister. “I would like to go but I’m chained here and covered with fleas.”“I will kill all the fleas,” said Glinda. With a zap of her wand, the fleas were gone. She gave Twister brown wings to fly to the party. (They were camouflaged to blend in with her fur.) But Glinda warned her. “Get back by midnight or everything will change back to the way it was.”

Twister flew to the big green castle where the Wizard lived. There were dogs and puppies everywhere! They were dancing, and eating lovely dog biscuits that were beef and turkey flavored. Some dogs were lined up, waiting for their turn to try on the collar. Twister hopped into the line.

While she was waiting in line, she got hungry so she decided to get some beef and turkey flavored dog biscuits. The line to try on the collar got smaller while she was eating. She got at the end of the line.

Just as it was Twister’s turn to try on the collar, the clock struck midnight. Dong! Dong! Dong! Twister ran down the stairs. The collar which was not buckled, fell off. Twister lifted up her wings and flew toward home. Just as she got there, she lost her wings that she got from Glinda. The wings just disintegrated! The fleas returned!

Just then Dorothy and the Wicked Witch got home. The Witch made Dorothy chain Twister up in her doghouse again. While Twister was flying home, the Wizard, who was running after Twister, found the collar on the steps of the castle. “Oh, no! I must find that dog . . . that flying dog . . . who will fit the collar.”

The Wizard called his Tin Butler in and said, “Go find the dog that will fit this collar.” So the Tin Butler went from house to house in his race car, searching for the missing dog. Finally, he came to Dorothy’s house. He knocked on the door and the Witch answered the door. He asked, “Is there a dog here?” The Wicked Witch said, “Yes, but don’t bother because it would just be a waste of your time.”

But the Tin butler said, “I NEED to see her!”

The Wicked Witch sent Dorothy out to get Twister who was chained up in her doghouse. She brought Twister to the Tin Butler. He tried the collar on the dog. “Oh! It fits!” he yelled because he was surprised and happy.

As the collar was buckled, the wings reappeared and Twister was magically clean. The collar magically repelled fleas for the rest of her life.

Twister and Dorothy went with the Tin Butler to the Castle. The Wizard was waiting for them. (They took the Wicked Witch with them even though she was mean. They knew she would behave herself because the Wizard was there.)

And they lived happily ever after.

THE END