My ultimate goal was to have the kids actually enjoy Shakespeare's tales without going into the nitty gritty of the Shakespearean language, so I opted to choose two books that tell his stories in a simpler way. Both are necessary in order to answer the discussion questions in my activities, since both have details the other doesn't include.
We read from E. Nesbit's Shakespeare's Stories for Young Readers and A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories: 12 Tales from the World's Most Famous Playwright.
We already dove deep into the world of Romeo & Juliet. All of that curriculum can be found here at this link. For this unit, we focused on several more of his more popular works including Taming of the Shrew and King Lear.
We lightened things up with Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream where a love potion causes chaos when it mixes up the wrong lovers. It's a magical, silly tale! To access the activities we did with this story, click here.
Next up was The Taming of the Shrew. Those familiar with the film 10 Things I Hate About You will have a good idea of what this play is about: a man who takes on the challenge of trying to get a headstrong, defiant princess to marry him leading to all kinds of shenanigans and silliness. To access the activities we did with this story, click here.
Lastly, we ended with the infamous King Lear who questions his three daughter's amount of love when dividing his land before he retires only to find out he made a grim choice. To access the activities we did with this story, click here.
To add to the fun we researched and learned all kinds of Fun Facts about Shakespeare and his world! To get both Vol. 1 and 2 click here!