LAFS.3.RL.1.2Archived Standard

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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