Small Group Reading Activity-Extension of Lesson Taught

Subject: Reading Essential Standard/Common Core Objective: RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL4.3, RL.4.4, RL.4.5, RL.4.6, RL.4.9, RL.4.9, RF.4.4, SL.4.1, L.4.5, L.4.6 Central Focus: Common themes in literature that were developed differently. Date taught: March 24, 2014

Daily Lesson Objective: Students will be able to determine the themes of a story and make connections with other stories of the same theme but understand that they are developed differently.

Area of Literacy Being Developed: Common Themes Type of Meeting: Group Materials: Sign of the Beaver, reading notebooks, anchor charts. Activity/Explanation: This 4th grade class was spending and entire unit on theme and connecting themes to other literature. The teacher asked me to discuss the theme with my small group and then connect it with other pieces of literature. The teacher also asked me to discuss how the setting, characters and other details in the story contributed to building the theme. I had the students tell me about the particular story they were reading. This book club was reading Sign of the Beaver. I followed that by asking them to define theme and what were some of the potential themes that they were finding in their story. I then asked how they came to the conclusion that this was a theme in their story. What elements made you decide this was theme? After discussing theme in relation to their book, I asked if they could think of another text that had a common theme. My reading lesson I taught focused on common themes. We revisited an anchor chart that I created for that particular lesson. The students then were asked to record their thoughts. We used a technique from an anchor chart hanging in the classroom. It was titled What does the text say? Intended Outcomes: The goal was to reiterate the lesson taught about making connections of text regarding common themes. I wanted to have all students participate and agree on a theme for their book club story and relate it to other literature. Reflection: The teacher asked me to focus my small group activity on theme. The class was working on a theme unit during my time there. She gave me the freedom to pick any book club I wanted. Book clubs are what the teacher calls reading groups. The groups are based on reading level. Each group is assigned a book per unit and given a date to be finished by. It is the groups

job to make a schedule for their book and complete discussions and activities. I decided to pick the middle level group. There were two boys and four girls in this group. Two of the young ladies were very shy. I made a point to ask direct questions or questions like what do you think? to those two girls to get them to participate. I had the students record their what does the fox say? activity in their readers notebook. When a student gave an answer to a question, I made sure that they explained their reasoning, not only for me because I was unfamiliar with the text but also for their fellow club members. I had the group agree with responses for clarity. Over all I think the small group activity went well. The students participated and were excited to spend some time with me. This was encouraging to fell wanted and I think that revisiting the topic was helpful.