Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2 To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3 To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust .
4 Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Guided Imagery - Fairy Story Writing

My favorite way to introduce fairy story writing is to begin with a guided imagery.

Students of all age love the task when they settle and focus. Sometimes I begin with some classical music and as it is playing I ask my class to be totally silent. I lead them on a pathway that invariably takes them to a fantasy world peopled with all sorts of characters.

The world that they create offers the perfect setting for their story. Only when we have this material do I introduce them to the essential elements of fairy story writing such as the opening "Once upon a time..."

To experiment play some music, open Microsoft Word and cut and paste the following scenario into your page.

Read the passage slowly, allowing yourself to absorb the setting and to become a part of this new world.

Make sure you relax, taking perhaps ten minutes to do the exercise.

Once you have let go and participated write as directed, for twenty minutes without stopping. Do not stop for any reason and allow yourself to write whatever comes to mind. 

It is a blistering hot summer's day. You awaken to find yourself, totally alone, in a golden, yellow, field of wheat. You are wearing very little and you feel an itch rising as the wheat scratches and irritates your bare skin. Your skin prickles with the heat and the perspiration is literally seeping from you. Your throat is parched and dry and you have to find water. You stand and look around the field. In the distance you can see one scraggly tree. Shade to think. You struggle over and collapse under the tree. You hear a voice. Someone is talking to you - perhaps one of the animal kingdom. They tell you to follow the dusty path and that you will find water. You walk, listening to the sound of this world. You begin to climb. It is an arduous pathway but you can hear the familiar sound of water trickling over rocks. As you come into the clearing and find the pure, crystal clear water you are struck by the beauty of the place.....someone is coming to greet you.

Begin to write remembering that what you write is just compost for the fairy story you will write. 

Other Activities

Fractured Fairy Stories