Understanding Myths and Legends

Book excerpt: Understanding Myths and Legends contains 27 stories from different countries around the World, ranging from Perseus and Medusa from Ancient Greece to an Indian legend on how the Peacock got his glorious feathers. These exciting stories are full of fearsome monsters, brave heroes and magical happenings, and will appeal to both girls and boys. Understanding Myths and Legends is a flexible resource that can be used to support topic work in history and RE or used as part of a unit of work in literacy. The stories and activities are ideal for use in guided reading sessions. To enable teachers to make the most of each story, they are accompanied by: background information to enable teachers to place the story confidently in context; differentiated reading tasks, using a variety of question styles, to help improve children's reading and comprehension skills; speaking and listening activities to deepen children's insight into the stories and encourage engagement; cross-curricular follow-up ideas, enabling you to extend the story further. Myths and legends are not only excellent stories. They also help children to gain a true understanding of life in ancient times and improve their understanding of other people, cultures and places, making them an essential part of the primary curriculum.