Today Kindergarten marked the birthday of one history’s most well-known story collectors, Wilhelm Grimm. Wilhelm and his brother Jakob Grimm were early 19th century linguists who (in addition to compiling one of the earliest comprehensive German dictionaries) collected hundreds of German tales by visiting folks in their homes and transcribing the stories that had been passed down through the generations. Many of the stories that our children still love today, including Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, The Bremen Town Musicians, The Frog Prince and Snow White, were first published by the Grimm brothers about 200 years ago. The students were very surprised to hear that these stories were so old and that they had not been written down before the Grimm brothers undertook their project.

We shared several versions of these classic tales today, with students observing and noticing the differences among them. We discussed how a single story like Cinderella might end up with different endings or details. Ask your child which versions of his or her favorite stories is the best! Happy Reading!