Lesson plan - Study Island



|Reading Lesson: Theme |Grade Level: 5 |

|Lesson Summary: Students will deduce what theme is by looking at examples and non-examples of theme. They will fill out a new word graphic organizer for the |

|concept. With teacher guidance, students will read “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” by Aesop, identify themes, point out supporting evidence in the story to explain |

|their reasoning, and apply the identified themes to their own lives. Students will then practice independently in groups with a story that they are reading/have |

|read and present their findings to the class. Advanced learners will go a step further by thinking of and acting out skits that reflect their story’s theme and a |

|real-life situation. Classmates will guess the theme. Struggling learners will be shown how to use a graphic organizer to break down the theme-finding process. |

|Lesson Understandings: |

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|The students will know… |

|The definition of “theme.” |

|How to identify a theme in a work of literature. |

|That themes apply to real-life situations. |

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|The students will be able to… |

|Define “theme.” |

|Identify a theme in a work of literature. |

|Understand that themes apply to real-life situations. |

|Learning Styles Targeted: |

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|Visual |

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|Auditory |

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|Kinesthetic/Tactile |

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|Pre-Assessment: Have students complete the questions in the “Warm-up” document*. Gather the students’ work and use them to assess the students’ knowledge as much |

|as possible before beginning the whole-class instruction. |

|Whole-Class Instruction |

|Materials Needed: computer and projector, copies of “New Word Graphic Organizer” document* for students, “New Word Graphic Organizer” document* to project, |

|“Passage for Guided Practice” document* to project, student whiteboards and dry-erase markers, copies of independent-level stories that students are reading/have |

|read, butcher paper, markers |

|Procedure: |

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|Display the following statements for the students and ask them what they all have in common: |

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|People should follow their dreams. |

|Difficult situations test how loyal a friend is. |

|Let forgiveness heal past hurts. |

|Reward is not as great without someone to share it with. |

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|Jot down correct responses. Share with the class that they have just put together a good description of themes. Explain how a theme is a message about life and/or |

|human nature that an author shares with a reader. Point out that themes never contain characters’ names or describe what happens in a story. They are statements |

|and can be applied to real-life situations. Sometimes, the author directly states the theme, but most of the time, readers need to figure out the theme themselves |

|by examining the events of the story. Have students fill out a “New Word Graphic Organizer” for Theme. |

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|Have a strong reader read the story found in “Passage for Guided Practice” document aloud to the class. Have students think about the theme of the story as they |

|read. Then, ask the students to write what they think a theme of the story is on their whiteboards. Call on a student with the right answer to share his/her theme.|

|Then, ask the student to point out events in the story that led him/her to his/her answer. Then, call on another student with a different correct theme to share |

|his/her answer. Have him/her point out supporting details as well. Explain to the students that stories can have more than one theme. Possible themes for “The Wolf|

|in Sheep’s Clothing”: |

|Things do not always go as planned. |

|Liars are eventually discovered. |

|Those who are evil eventually get what they deserve. |

|Ask students to apply the themes to real-life situations. For example, ask them to share times in their life where “things did not go as planned.” |

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|Divide the class into groups of 3. Assign each group a story that students have read. You can assign all groups the same story or different stories. Give each |

|group a large piece of butcher paper. Have each group use markers to write a theme of the story and details from the story that support the theme on the butcher |

|paper. Once students are finished, each group will present their findings to the class. |

|Advanced Learner |

|Materials Needed: notebook paper, writing utensils |

|Procedure: Have advanced learners go a step further by planning out a skit that reflects their assigned story’s theme and a real-life situation. Have them act out|

|their skit and let their classmates guess the theme. Once the class guesses the theme, the group members can then present what they wrote on their butcher paper. |

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|Alternate Activity: Have students change an event (e.g., the ending) in “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” to change the story’s theme. |

|Struggling Learner |

|Materials Needed: copies of the “Theme Graphic Organizer” document* for students, copies of independent-level stories that students have read/are reading |

|Procedure: |

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|Show students how to use the “Theme Graphic Organizer” to help them find the theme. The organizer breaks down the theme-finding process into four steps: |

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|Find a one-word topic for the theme. |

|Find examples of the topic in the story. |

|Form a theme statement by combining the topic with the examples in the story. |

|Apply the theme statement to real-life situations. (In other words, name a time where this theme proved to be true in real life.) |

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|Have students double-check that their theme statements do not describe characters or story events. |

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|Guide them in using the graphic organizer for one story. (The “Theme Graphic Organizer Example” document* shows you how the organizer would be filled out for the |

|story “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.”) Then, allow the students to work independently in finding a theme for another story. |

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|To help the students get started, you can provide the students with the first step (a one-word topic for the theme). Alternately, help students outline the |

|sequence of events to help them come up with the one-word topic. |

* see supplemental resources

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