Fables and trickster stories are short narratives that use animal characters with human features to convey folk wisdom and to help people understand human nature and human behavior. These stories were originally passed down through oral tradition and were eventually written down. These lesson plans are intended for students in grades 3-5 and introduce them to folk tales through a literary approach that emphasizes genre categories and definitions. With these lessons, students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures. They will learn how both fables and trickster tales use various animals in different ways to portray human strengths and weaknesses to pass down wisdom from one generation to the next. The general lesson plan: provides an introduction; cites subject areas, time required, and skills developed; gives learning objectives; poses guiding questions; presents material about teaching the lesson; outlines suggested activities for four lessons (Telling Stories-Writing Stories; Fables and Tales from Different Cultures; Sly as a Fox: Busy as a Bee; The Moral of the Story; and Extending the Lesson); lists selected Websites; and addresses standards alignment. (NKA)