Lesson Plan

Name of Lesson/Topic: Theme

Learning Goals or Standards to be addressed:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and
when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL 4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text

Students will understand:

-the underlying message of a story is the theme of the story
-theme is something that can be learned about life in general
-how the author uses story elements to portray the theme

Students will know:

-that an author uses characters, setting, and plot to help convey the theme of the story
-texts can share the same theme

Students will be able to:

-define theme
-determine the theme in a literary text
-identify details that support the theme in a literary text
-analyze texts and determine a shared theme in multiple texts

Learning Activity

How will students be formatively

assessed?

Day 1: 30-35 minutes

Day 1 Assessment:

1. The teacher will read the picture book, The

Man Who Walked Between the Towers by
Mordecai Gerstein aloud to the class.

At the end of the mini lesson, students will be

formatively assessed using Socrative. This
assessment includes multiple choice and
true/false questions. Students will access
Socrative using their mini iPads. The link will
be sent to students through their email so they
can easily get to the login in page.
Socrative Quiz Name: Theme

2. Class discussion: The teacher will ask the

following questions to the whole class.
-What is the lesson that can be learned from
the character(s) in this story?
-What details from the story lead you to chose
the lesson that you did?
-The teacher will inform students that the
lesson the author wants us to learn from their
story is the theme of the story.
-The teacher will engage the class in a
discussion on how theme relates to the story
read aloud.

The teacher will use the results to determine

where to begin with the theme PowerPoint on
day 2. The PowerPoint includes very basic
instruction (what is theme?) as well as reading
passages that provides students with practice
determining the theme of the text as well as
choosing details that support the theme.

3. The teacher will show a BrainPop video on

theme to the whole class.
Day 2: 25-30 minutes
1. The teacher will use a Theme PowerPoint to
review and teach new concepts of theme. The
PowerPoint allows students to practice
determining the theme of a story as well as
identifying details from the story that support
that theme.

Day 2 Assessment:
At the end of the mini lesson, students will be
formatively assessed using Socrative. This
assessment includes three passages in which
students need to identify the theme of the
passage as well as details from the story that
support the theme. Students will access
Socrative using their mini iPads. The link will
be sent to students through their email so they
can easily get to the login in page.
Socrative Quiz Name: Identifying Theme
Results will be used to help place students in
four guided reading groups.

Day 3-5 Assessment:

Day 3-5: Guided Reading Groups

Formative assessments will include teacher

Guided reading groups will take place over 3

days. Students will have teacher time each day
as well as independent work time. Exact
lessons for groups will be determined on a
day-to-day basis based off of students
progress and needs. However, it can be
inferred that groups will most likely be
focusing on the goals below.

observation, specifically during the time each

group is with the teacher, as well as
assignments students complete during
independent work time.

Group 1:
Using short passages, students will focus on
determining the theme in a literary text as well
as identifying details that support the theme in
the passage.
Group 2:
Using short stories, students will focus on
determining the theme in a literary text as well
as identifying details that support the theme in
the passage.
Group 3:
Using short stories, students will focus on
determining the theme in a literary text as well
as identifying details that support the theme in
the passage. Students may also begin analyzing
and determining a shared theme in short
passages.
Group 4:
Students will analyze and determine a shared
theme in multiple texts. Texts may include
longer passages, short stories, and poetry.

How will the needs of students with various needs (ELL, digital learners, gifted
learners, RtI students, and special education students) be addressed during and after
each stage in the formative assessment process?

During the formative assessment process, special education students would have the
Socrative assessments read aloud to them in order to help them better comprehend the
questions. The teacher would make sure students understood the meaning of any difficult
words in the assessments. These students would also be provided additional time to finish
the assessments, if needed. The formative assessment results would most likely show that
these students would benefit from being in a lower guided reading group. Guided reading
groups lend themselves to naturally making modifications and providing students with
tiered assignments. Therefore, these students would be provided texts and skill work at
their instructional level throughout the unit of study. The above accommodations can be
made for RtI students as well, if needed. The resource teacher would also be available
during this time to spend extra time reviewing and practicing theme with students who
might need the additional support.
As mentioned above, guided reading groups naturally allow for differentiated instruction.
Therefore, gifted students, or more advanced students would most likely be put into the
highest guided reading group. Just like the three other groups, these students would be
challenged by working with texts at their instructional level as well as working on more
advanced learning goals while still focusing on the same skill, theme.
Overall, guided reading groups help to meet the needs of all students, not just lower or
higher students. All groups focus on the same skill, theme, but their instruction and
practice would be tailored to meet their needs based on the group they are in.
(The specific class this lesson plan is designed for does not have any ELL students.)
Describe the specific learning activities and process for implementation. What SRS
is being used? How should students access the SRS tool? How will students be
introduced to the tool? Will the SRS be used in any other way beyond formative
assessment (attendance, engagement, rewards, etc.)?
There are a variety of learning activities being implemented over the course of 5 days.
The concept of theme in introduced on day 1 through an engaging read aloud and
followed by a formative assessment. The mini lesson on Day 2 allows for the whole class
to continue gaining an understanding of theme as well as practice with identifying details
in passages that support the theme. During the last three days, students are divided up
into small reading groups. During these days, each group will meet with the teacher for
20 minutes. When groups are not with the teacher, they are engaging in other activities
that may include writing work, silent reading time, independent skill work, and word
work activities. As students complete their required activities/assignments, they turn their
work in so at the end of each day the teacher can see the students work and progress.
While the teacher knows ahead of time what learning objectives each group is working
on, the teacher uses observation during each group time to determine what the groups
focus and activities will be the following day. Adjustments can and will be made to
learning objectives if it seems needed.

The SRS tool students will be utilizing is Socrative. Students will be introduced to
Socrative prior to the day 1 mini lesson. They will be given a quiz, with questions in a
variety of formats, on their teacher. The questions will include information about their
teacher. This will provide students with a fun and engaging way to become familiar with
the tool. After the first introduction to Socrative, it will be used to provide students with a
Question of the Day each morning. This will take place for at least five mornings
before students use it as formative assessment in the day 1 mini lesson. The question of
the day will include true/false, multiple choice, and short answer responses so the
students can get used to using all three-question types. Students will be accessing
Socrative through their mini iPads. A link that leads to the Socrative assessment will be
sent to the students email for easy access. In this specific lesson, the SRS will not be
used in any other way other than a formative assessment. However, I can definitely see
myself using this tool as a review for cumulative tests. I think my students would be
really engaged with the Space Race option.
Reflect on how the lesson will improve the learning environment for students. How
will it improve the retention of important material and learning processes?
This lesson will help to improve the learning environment for my students in a variety of
ways. On day 1, the read aloud book that I have chosen is an engaging story that I believe
will hold the students attention. The fact that I have chosen an engaging story will allow
students to better comprehend the text and be able to identify what the author wanted
them to learn from the story. I think that my students will enjoy using Socrative. I believe
this tool will be engaging to them, which will hopefully result in them submitting their
best work. In this lesson, students will be divided up into guided reading groups based off
their needs. I think this is the number one way the learning environment will be improved
for my students. These groups will naturally allow for differentiated instruction to take
place, making it easier to meet the needs of each student. These groups allow me to not
only focus on the needs of my lower level students, but also allow me to focus on the
needs of my higher-level students. Since the instruction provided to each group will be
differentiated to meet their needs, I feel that students will be more engaged during teacher
time. When students are given work that is too easy for them, they tend to become less
engaged. When students are given work that is too hard for them, they often become
frustrated causing them to be less engaged as well. During this lesson, the material
focused on during teacher time will be at the students instructional level, allowing them
to stay more engaged throughout the unit of study.

Describe other ways you can incorporate technology learning into your classroom.

Since my students are 1:1 with iPads, there are so many different ways technology can be
incorporated into my classroom. Technology is used in my classroom in ways that allow
students to create and collaborate with each other. For example, my students use Google
Drive on a daily basis. This is what they use as a word processing program. This allows
students to easily share their work with not only myself, but with each other. Students are
often responsible for editing their classmates work. The comment feature on Google
Drive allows for students to easily complete this task. My students also use Google
Presentation when needing to create group presentations. They love that they can all work
on the same presentation at the same time from different devices. In my classroom, I use
DropBox to distribute certain materials to my students. For example, stories that are used
during reading, that I used to have to copy for each student, can now be accessed through
my class DropBox account. In my classroom, students are constantly watching BrainPop,
Flocabulary, Kahn Academy and other types of videos to help support instruction. Guided
math is implemented in my classroom daily. I often have students watch a video before
their teacher time. This helps them to better understand the concept that we will be
focusing on during group time. My higher students often catch on to the concepts being
taught in the video quickly. In return, this allows me to spend less time actually teaching
the skill, and more time reinforcing it. Due to the fact that my students are 1:1 with iPads,
there are endless possibilities on how technology can be incorporated in my classroom. I
am lucky to work with such great staff that are constantly sharing their technology ideas
and providing support for each other when implementing new ideas in the classroom.