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Reading schedule · Grades 3–6

Aesop's Fables in 3 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A three-week plan for reading Aesop's Fables by Aesop, one section a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 3–6, in class or at home.

Pacing

At the grammar stage (grades 3–6) short, regular readings work better than long ones. Many families read aloud together and ask children to tell back what they heard before talking about the questions. Each week covers one section; if a section feels long, take two weeks over it and keep the escape room for the end.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Aesop's Fables

Week 1: Clever and Foolish Animals

Read: Clever and Foolish Animals

Seven fables in which brains win or lose the day: The Fox and the Crow, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Crow and the Pitcher, The Fox and the Grapes, The Fox and the Stork, Belling the Cat and The Fox and the Goat. Some animals win by cleverness or patience, while others are caught out by flattery or their own boasting.

Discussion questions

1. Which animal in these fables is the cleverest, and which the most foolish?
2. What lesson does The Tortoise and the Hare teach, and can you think of a time when it was true?
3. In Belling the Cat, why is a good idea not enough?

Escape room: The Fox's Tricks (lockedlessons.com/rooms/aesop-clever-and-foolish-animals/)

Week 2: Wise Warnings

Read: Wise Warnings

Eight fables that warn what happens when we are careless, lazy or proud: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, The North Wind and the Sun, The Oak and the Reed, The Milkmaid and Her Pail and The Bundle of Sticks. Each ends with a lesson that is easy to remember.

Discussion questions

1. Why does nobody believe the boy in the end?
2. In The North Wind and the Sun, why does gentleness work better than force?
3. What does The Bundle of Sticks teach about families and friends?

Escape room: The False Alarm (lockedlessons.com/rooms/aesop-wise-warnings/)

Week 3: Kindness and Greed

Read: Kindness and Greed

Seven fables about kindness repaid and greed punished: The Lion and the Mouse, The Dove and the Ant, The Wolf and the Crane, The Dog and His Reflection, The Boy and the Nuts, The Miser and His Gold and The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs. Small creatures prove that they can help great ones, and greedy characters lose what they already had.

Discussion questions

1. Why does the lion laugh at the mouse, and how does the mouse prove him wrong?
2. What do the dog, the boy and the goose's owner have in common?
3. Which fable's lesson do you think matters most, and why?

Escape room: A Kindness Repaid (lockedlessons.com/rooms/aesop-kindness-and-greed/)

Nothing in this schedule is quoted from any translation, so it can sit beside whichever one your class reads.