Cluster 1: Key Ideas and DetailsArchived

This lesson helps children understand how they can be affected by the way others view them. The story is about Sosu, an African boy with a disability. The villagers didn't think he could do anything. Sosu used a drum to call for help and save the older people and children who were trapped by a storm. This lesson plan addresses the following literacy skills: asking and answering questions about key details and unknown words in a text, referring explicitly to the text for the answers; describing characters' traits, feelings, and motivations and how their actions contribute to the events in a story; and writing an opinion piece in response to a text-based question.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will read Tops & Bottoms, adapted by Janet Stevens, focusing on the lessons that the characters learn as a result of their actions throughout the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about theme by exploring classic books such as Where the Wild Things Are and A Chair for My Mother. This will be done using a popcorn and kernels as a guide to how theme works.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze song lyrics to determine the meanings of figurative language used throughout the lyrics. Students will determine the theme of the song and explain how the examples of figurative language help develop the theme. They will complete various graphic organizers and write an opinion piece to demonstrate their understanding of the skills.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will read 'City, City" by Marci Ridlon and analyze how the poet uses words to describe the city. Students will write a comparison piece to explain what the poet says about the city in stanzas one and two.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with the teacher and in cooperative groups to read and summarize A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant. Through the reading of the text, students will sequence the events and use text features and text structure to understand the text. Students will then write to summarize William Carlos Williams' story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading lesson, students will work with the teacher and in cooperative groups to read and comprehend Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. Students will determine and analyze the point of view of the text, sequence the key events, and answer discussion questions. Students will also rewrite the story from a human's point of view.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this partial reading of Kate DiCamillo's story The Tale of Despereaux students will meet a variety of charming, and not so charming, characters. Students will identify figurative language within the text and explain how it contributes to understanding the characters. At the end of the lesson, students will make a claim about one of the characters and support their claim using text evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading lesson, students will work with the teacher and in cooperative groups to read and comprehend Faithful Elephants. Through multiple readings, the students will determine the meaning of words using context clues, discuss questions from the text, and explain the theme of the story by writing an expository paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

During these lessons, students will delve deep into the text Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. After identifying the point of view in the story, they will answer comprehension questions about the story by playing a small group game. Students will have the opportunity to rewrite the story from a completely different point of view.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will engage in reading The Raft by Jim LaMarche. Through several close readings and discussions, students will analyze and synthesize how key details and characters' actions and motivations help to determine the author's central message. The lesson begins with a strong "hook" that will also bring closure to the reading and reinforce the students' understanding of the central idea.

Type: Lesson Plan

This short text, "The Real Princess," originally told by Hans Christian Anderson, will require students to think deeply, make inferences based on text evidence and learn several new vocabulary words. Students will discuss the components of a fairy tale, play a vocabulary game, and compose an opinion piece of writing about the theme of the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading of Patricia Polacco's story The Junkyard Wonders, students will identify and analyze character development to help determine the theme, or underlying message, the author wants readers to understand.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides an in-depth look at a literary text that links reading to social studies, Lewis and Clark and Me. At the completion of this lesson, students will have read about specific events from the Lewis and Clark expedition as told from Lewis' dog's point of view. They will analyze story elements and the characters in the text. Students will be able to create a chapter for the book that models the story structure used by the author.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will delve deep into the text, The Sweetest Fig, by Chris Van Allsburg. Students will practice reading comprehension, vocabulary, and identifying character traits. They will determine the traits of a character based off of the character's actions and language. Students will also gain practice responding to text-based questions both orally and in writing, providing evidence from the text to support their claims.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will delve into the text Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg. They will determine the character’s development based upon the character's traits, actions, and language, especially examining character change over the course of the text. Students will also write a narrative ending to the story based on the character’s development.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will listen to the teacher read aloud Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Mouse." They will define vocabulary words and discuss the causes and effects of events in the story. These lessons will culuminte with students writing an expository text about how the lion changes throughout the story by providing details and other required components.

Type: Lesson Plan

The following lesson centers around the book 14 Cows for America. This story is a recount of the events on September 11 told through the eyes of a young man in his village in Kenya. Students will think deeply about the main character and his character traits in the story. A series of discussion questions are provided along with an expository writing prompt.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this resource, students will use explicit information to answer questions about a fictional text, Freckle Juice, by Judy Blume.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and reread a classic Chinese folktale, The Ballad of Mulan. They will ask and answer text-dependent questions and will recount the events in the story using a story map. Students will determine the theme of the story and analyze Mulan's character development through her actions, thoughts, and feelings along with their contribution to the sequence of events and, ultimately, the theme of the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use shared inquiry discussion to discuss an open-ended question from a Nigerian folktale "It's All the Fault of Adam".

Type: Lesson Plan

During this lesson students will write a summary of the text My Secret Bully by Trudy Lidwig, focusing on the details to determine the theme. Students will complete a problem/solution graphic organizer to be used in the summary. This is the first in a series of three lessons using the text My Secret Bully.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the story A Chair for My Mother, the students will ponder the story and learn how to ask questions and identify the answers using the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with partners and individually to read and analyze fables. Students will clarify unknown words using context and dictionaries. Students will identify words or phrases to help them determine the moral/lesson being taught by the fable.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify and describe how the problem in a story causes conflict between the characters. The teacher modeling phase features the story Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, and the guided practice features The Story of Noodles by Ying Chang Compestine. In the independent practice, students may pick a story of their own. Graphic organizers are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read four literary texts and use graphic organizers to help them organize their knowledge. These graphic organizers address a number of areas including sequencing, main idea, characters, and setting.

Type: Lesson Plan

Good readers demonstrate comprehension of text using a wide variety of strategies. Making personal connections to stories is one way to develop deeper understanding of both character and theme. This teacher read-aloud of Thank You, Mr. Falker and follow-up whole-group instruction provide a basis for improved higher-level reading comprehension. The teacher works with the whole class to model making predictions and personal connections, envisioning character change, and understanding the themes of the book. Response journals can also be used to further student connections to the characters and themes in the book.

Type: Lesson Plan

This website includes a lesson on identifying themes and worksheets to help students practice.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using a retelling of an Egyptian folktale in the book The Monster Who Grew Small by Joan Grant, students will discover how helpers can provide encouragement, encouragement that they can use to try to overcome "monsters" of obstacles in their way. Students should have read this story prior to this lesson. In this lesson, students will participate in several rounds of shared inquiry discussion to help them practice engaging effectively in collaborative discussions as well as answering questions provided by a speaker. On a retelling graphic organizer and in questions students will answer in writing and during the shared inquiry discussions, students will use evidence from the text to support their responses.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this one day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to absorb deep lessons from Kate DiCamillo's story. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will identify how and why the three main characters became friends.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will first work with the teacher and their classmates to practice the close reading of "The Burning of the Rice Fields." Through separate close readings of this story, students will practice reading and analyzing the text to identify story elements, will use context clues to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary, will analyze characters in the story and their actions and motivations, and finally, students will determine the lesson or moral of the story. For independent practice, students will conduct the same kind of close reading for the story "The Cat and the Parrot." Throughout the lesson, students will also practice creating questions about a text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will determine the traits, feelings, and motivations of a character based on a read aloud, Giraffes Can't Dance, written by Gildes Andreae. Students will use the character's traits, feelings, and motivations to discuss the character’s development throughout the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to describe characters’ feelings, traits, and motivations using excerpts from Charlotte's Web. In this interactive tutorial, you will also learn how to identify and explain how characters’ actions contribute to the events in a story.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Help Dan the Detective answer questions about a story, using key details from the story to support your answers with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will use multiple reading strategies to answer questions and comprehend text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters. As an extension activity, students will compare the perspectives of two characters. Graphic organizers are provided for character analysis and comparisons.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will describe characters using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters' traits (as determined by actions, thoughts, and feelings).

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters and will record their findings on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will retell or summarize a story.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will retell or summarize a story.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify and sort story elements (character, setting, problem, solution, theme, plot). They will then compare and contrast the elements of different stories.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will answer questions related to story elements (characters, setting, plot, theme) and record their answers on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will summarize text (narrative and expository) using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will summarize narrative text using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will sequence events in a story using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, the students will use their creativity to create a fable about manatees.

Type: Teaching Idea

Because so many stories contain lessons that the main character learns and grows from, it is important for students to not only recognize these transformations but also understand how the story's events affected the characters. This lesson uses a think-aloud procedure to model how to infer character traits and recognize a character's growth across a text. Students also consider the underlying reasons of why the character changed, supporting their ideas and inferences with evidence from the text.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence