UNT Lesson Plan

Teacher:
Subject area:

Jacob Baze
Reading

Date:
Grade Level:

6 th

District:
Unit Title

School:
Lesson Title:

Theme

Purpose and Lesson

Standard(s):
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and/or
English Language Proficiency Standards
(3) Reading/Comprehension of Literary
Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze,
make inferences and draw conclusions about
theme and genre in different cultural,
historical, and contemporary contexts and
provide evidence from the text to support
their understanding. Students are expected
to:

Understanding goals(s):
Students will understand
Theme in different cultural, historical and
contemporary contexts
How to infer theme in a work of fiction

Essential Question(s):
Leading questions, questions that address the
heart of the discipline, questions that
provoke interest and thought
What is the theme of The Boy and The
Filbert Nuts?
How does a storys lesson apply to other
stories?
How does it apply to the reader?

(A) infer the implicit theme of a work of

fiction, distinguishing theme from the topic;
Student Objectives:
Assessment of Objectives:
Students will be able
How will you know if
to
students have met the
objectives
Infer the implicit theme (formal/informal)?
of a work of fiction
Theme Story Map Formal
Draw conclusions about
theme in different
Group Participation cultural, historical and
Informal
contemporary contexts

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan with timeline and specified grouping

Anticipatory Set:(5 min, whole class)
Display The Boy and The Filbert Nuts on the Promethean Board. Read it to the
class and explain that theme is the moral of a story. Have students answer the
question that follows the story.
Input and Modeling:(10 min, whole class)
The teacher reads The Ant and the Grasshopper and fills out the theme story map
on the Promethean Board. The characters are the ant and the grasshopper. The
setting is a field in the summer and during the winter. The story problem is the
grasshopper feels that the ant is wasting his time by storing for the winter. The
events that lead to the solution are the grasshopper notices the ants with food in
the winter, the grasshopper wish he should have listened to the ant and the ants
have plenty while the grasshopper has nothing. The solution is that the ants have
food while the grasshopper does not. The theme of the story is, It is best to
1

UNT Lesson Plan

prepare for the days of necessity.
Checking for Understanding:(3 min, whole class)
Have students explain what the meaning of the theme of The Ant and the
Grasshopper is. Have students explain how this lesson can apply to their own lives
and to other stories.
Guided Practice: (30 min, Whole Class)
The teacher will read aloud Pink and Say and after reading, the class will fill out
the theme story map on the Promethean Board together.
Closure: (3 min, Whole Class)
Have students explain the meaning of the theme of Pink and Say. Have students
explain how this lesson can apply to their own lives and to other stories.
Independent Practice: (30 min, groups of 3-4)
Students are placed into groups and are given their own picture book. Students read
the book in their group and then fill out their own theme story maps about their
books.
Language Modifications

Special Needs Modifications

Materials & Resources:

Technology:

Students are placed into

groups and will have
peer support.

Students are placed into

groups and will have peer
support.

List all materials and resources needed

List all technology used in the lesson
for the lesson
Promethean Board
The Boy and the Filbert Nuts
The Ant and the Grasshopper
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek
Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks by Leo
Dillon
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by
Patricia Polacco
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert
Coles

UNT Lesson Plan

The Yellow Star: The Legend of King
Christian X of Denmark by Carn Deedy
Theme Story Map

Reflection Attached on Lesson Plan Construction

What worked:
What parts of the lesson led to engagement
and student learning?
Discussing the theme of the fables led to
engagement because they loved discussing
how the lesson could apply to their own lives.
They were also engaged when applying the
lessons to other stories that they have read.
Teaching theme engaged students in making
text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world
connections.

Improvements:
How can you increase student learning,
engagement, etc., next time you teach this
lesson?
Student engagement can be increased by
having students discuss theme with those
around them. For example, A think-pair-share
would have been effective when discussion
the theme of Pink and Say.

Overall Implications for your teaching:

What did you learn from teaching this lesson
that can apply to other lessons?
I learned that it is sometimes difficult when
teaching abstract ideas such as theme. This
lesson was a great way to give students
hands on opportunities in their learning. In
other lessons, I plan on using hands on
learning.

UNT Lesson Plan

UNT Lesson Plan

UNT Lesson Plan

The Ant and the Grasshopper

IN a field one summers day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its
hearts content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was
taking to the nest.

Why not come and chat with me, said the Grasshopper, instead of toiling and moiling
in that way?

I am helping to lay up food for the winter, said the Ant, and recommend you to do the
same.

Why bother about winter? said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at
present. But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the
Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew:
IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.