Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Analyze how adjectives are used to help readers visualize. 
• Discuss how creation myths provide explanations for nature and science.
• Read and analyze a creation myth.
• Write an original myth using the writing process.
• Retell a creation myth story through a form of media.

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

• Creation Myths: Writing Exercise
• Vocabulary: A World of Myths
• Writing Myths Planner

Videos

• The Taino Myth of the Cursed Creator
• The Cambodian Myth of Lightning, Thunder, and Rain
• The Irish myth of the Giant's Causeway

Teacher Background

Build student background knowledge about creation myths with the lesson, A World of Myths. Teachers should familiarize themselves with the creation myth videos prior to teaching the lesson.

Student Prerequisites 

Students should have some knowledge of myths, basic story elements, and the writing process.

Accessibility Notes

Modify handouts and give preferential seating for visual presentations. Allow extra time for task completion. 

Engage

1. Have students number a sheet of paper 1-10. Explain that you will state 10 objects. For each object named, they should write the color or colors associated with the object. Encourage specificity. Remind students that colors come in many shades. Mauve, puce, cat's eye green, and banana yellow are examples. List of objects: raindrops, ocean, sun, hair, rainbow, house, horse, tree, cloud, and mountain. 

2. Have students turn and talk with their peers to discuss their color choices. Encourage a few students to share their color explanations with the class. 

3. Engage students in a discussion. How do adjectives, such as colors, change the way people think about someone or something? What would happen if every raindrop was a different color? What if the ocean was orange? What if the sun was adorable? What if you could grow tasty hair? What if every living creature was clumsy? What if everything in our world was gray? What if rainbows were creepy?

4. Distribute the Creation Myths: Writing Exercise. Tell students they are going to stretch their imaginations with a writing exercise. Students will complete the story template using wild, imaginative, and untypical adjectives to describe typical things.

5. Have a few student volunteers share their stories. As a student reads, have the other students close their eyes to envision the magical story. Follow-up with a discussion about how the adjectives impacted their visualizations.

Build

1. Explain to students that creation myths are stories that people told long ago to answer serious questions about how important things began and occurred. Myths employ fantastic mysterious and magical elements. Review the Vocabulary: A World of Myths. Review and discuss the terms with students.

2. Watch and discuss the myth, The Taino Myth of the Cursed Creator. Ask students: What words or phrases stood out to you? What do you notice about the author's use of language? How was the ocean created?

3. Divide students into pairs to listen to a different creation myth. Share the listening options below. As they listen, ask them to analyze the imaginative elements of the myth and how adjectives inform their visualizations. 

The Cambodian Myth of Lightning, Thunder, and Rain - a creation myth explaining the origin of lightning, thunder, and rain according to the Khmer people. 

The Irish myth of the Giant's Causeway - a creation myth explaining how the coast of Northern Ireland’s plateau of basalt slabs and columns were created according to the Ancient Irish.

4. Allow students time to listen to the stories and discuss the creation myths with their peers. Have students discuss the following elements:

- Setting/Origin

- Characters

- Natural Event

- Problem

- Solution

Apply

1. Divide students into small groups. Give each group chart paper and ask them to brainstorm a list of natural or human creations they think are interesting (i.e., a mountain, the Washington Monument, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, a redwood tree, giraffes long necks, tornadoes, etc.). Facilitate through the groups discussing their ideas. 

2. Distribute the Writing Myths Planner. Tell students they are going to use their brainstorm or one of the ideas from the planner to write an original creation myth. Students can collaborate in their small groups, with a partner, or write independently. Review the planner with students and model how to plan creation myth story elements. 

3. Write a creation myth. Allow time for students to work through the writing process, writing their creation myths using the planner. Encourage students to use adjectives to make the story interesting, allowing readers to visualize common things in a different way. Confer and provide feedback to students.

Reflect 

1. Have students select a way to share the creation myths they wrote. By choosing one of the following options, they will detail how a natural or human-made thing came to be. Students should rehearse several times before recording their story.

- Podcast

- Vlog

- Newscast

- Audiobook

2. Have students share their myths with the class. Teachers can curate a sharing page in Google Classroom, Padlet, or on a class blog. 

3. Assess students’ knowledge of writing creation myths. Students should be able to explain how a natural or human-made thing came to be by including a setting/origin, characters, a natural event, a problem, and a solution.