Year 3 'Mulan': reading worksheet

“Folk tales and legends” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 English unit “'Mulan': reading”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 17 to 18 of the year, 5 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Folk tales and legends

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can say what makes a legend different from a fairytale or a myth.

A Look back3 min

1.
A story has a beginning, a part that comes next, and an end. Which word fills the empty box in this chain? Circle one.
middletailcolour
2.
On this feelings scale, which word fits a sunny day best? Circle one.
cheerfulgloomyfurious
3.
A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a
full stopcommaapostrophe

B Watch me, then you4 min

A grandmother tells a short tale to a child. The child tells it to a friend, who tells it to someone else. Nobody writes it down.

Watch me

The story is spoken aloud, not written.

It is passed from person to person.

Because many people retell it, no single author is named.

Now you

1.
Which step fills the empty box in this cycle? Circle one.
Child tells a friendChild writes it in a bookChild forgets it at once
2.
Nobody writes the tale down, and each person tells it from memory. Could the tale change a little over many tellings? Circle one.
yesno

C Your turn6 min

Read each short description. Circle the type of story it is: fairytale, legend or myth.

A wooden village gate at dawn beside a dirt road, a lantern hanging nearby

1.
A girl walks into a dark wood. A fairy gives her three magic wishes. Circle the type.
fairytalelegendmyth
2.
A soldier defends his town during a real war long ago. There is no magic. Circle the type.
legendmythfairytale
3.
A god makes the first people from clay to explain how the world began. Circle the type.
mythfairytalelegend
4.
A poor boy is helped by a talking fox, and they live happily ever after. Circle the type.
legendfairytalemyth

Say it out loud: Which clue told you the type each time: magic, a real person from long ago, or gods explaining the world?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A night sky over a quiet village with a few stars and no moon

Lou says: “Mulan must be a myth, because it explains how the stars were made.”

1.
Mulan is about a girl who goes to war long ago in her father's place. No gods appear in it. What type of story is Mulan? Circle one.
a mytha legenda fairytale

E Think deeper4 min

Stories like Mulan are often told aloud before anyone writes them down.

A lantern hanging beside an open wooden doorway at dusk

1.
Make up a short story that could be told aloud. Say if it is a fairytale, legend or myth, and give one clue that shows the type. Then tell it to your grown-up.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Folk tales and legends · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. middle If your child picks tail or colour, ask which word comes between the start and the finish. Then tell a story you both know in three parts.

2. cheerful

3. full stop If your child picks comma, ask what mark shows that a sentence has finished. Point to the last box on the chain.

B

1. Child tells a friend

2. yes

C

1. fairytale

2. legend If your child circles fairytale, ask whether magic appears. There is no magic here, so the story stays close to real history and human choices, which makes it a legend.

3. myth If your child circles legend, ask what the story is trying to explain. A myth explains how the world or nature began, often with gods.

4. fairytale

D

1. a legend If your child circles myth, ask what the story explains. Mulan does not explain the stars. It tells of a brave girl in a war long ago, so it is a legend.

E

1. Look for: A short story that names fairytale, legend or myth and gives one clue from the story that fits that type.

Words to use

Say“Is there magic, a hero from long ago, or gods explaining the world? Tell me how you know.”

Instead of“Tell them it is just a made-up story and every old tale is the same.”

After the sheet

Retell a bedtime story from memory to someone at home. Then decide together whether it has magic, a hero from long ago, or gods explaining the world.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

4 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Meeting Mulan's legend(with a plan)
Clues and conclusions(with a plan)
Mulan's character profile(with a plan)
Finding big ideas in Mulan(with a plan)

Every Year 3 English worksheet

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