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6 ELA – Notes and PracticeTHEMEMrs. Johnson

Name:___________________________ Advisory:____________________ Date:___________________

Mini LessonGreat readers can identify the theme of a story.

THEMEA theme is a big idea about life the author wants you to take away from the text.

Just like inferences, the theme is something usually hidden inside the text that we discover by “reading between the lines.”

To discover the theme, we can look at:

MAJOR EVENTS DETAILS WHAT CHARACTERS SAY

Different stories can have the same theme, even though they may have different characters and events.

REMEMBER: To identify theme in a text we:

1. Identify big ideas in the text by looking at the major events, details, and what characters say.

What topics is the text talking about? Love, war, death, community, etc.

Whenever you see these topics, jot a #(insert big idea) in the margins.

2. Describe how these big ideas are the connected to the characters in the story.

3. State the theme as a big idea about life.

Stephanie Johnson, 09/20/14,

5 minutes


Today the structure of our lesson is going to be a little bit different We are going to be looking at one story today and really thinking about what evidence shows us the themes in a story. What events, what


There are many ways to show the same theme.


CC: S to read great readers statement and notes.


TRY IT OUTDirections: Draw lines from each theme to its matching book. As you read each summary, add a #bigidea if one pops out to you. You may underline/circle the words and phrases that help you understand these big ideas.Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny battles a dark wizard while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his friends Hermione and Ron.

THEME 1: Bravery in the face of challenging situations can

help you move past them.

The 6th Grade Nickname Game

Eleven-year-old pals Jeff and Wiley can find a nickname for anyone, but when a cute girl moves to town, they are stumped. Soon, they are at odds with each other over this girl's affections. As if that wasn't bad enough, they learn that their teacher, Mr. Huge, is in danger of losing his job. They boys must put their differences aside to save their beloved teacher, and in the process, they learn what is really important.

THEME 2: Sometimes you have to give up something for the greater good of those you

love.

Percy Jackson – The Lightning Thief

A young boy discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.

THEME 3: Never let anything come between true

friendship.

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete.

THEME 4: Teamwork and love has the power to conquer evil.


Harry Potter


6th Grade Nickname Game


Have students work for another 5 minutes on finding the other matches. CC for each summary and matching theme.What big idea did you find in the summary. What details showed you this big ideaWhat is the theme you matched it with?The Hunger Games


Now let’s look at our themes to see if we can find one that matches our #bigideas and underlined sections.CC: S to read each theme.Theme 1: Well this one already looks like a good candidate for the right answer. It has one of our #bigideas in it, and we know that Percy dealt with some challenging situations, and overcame them.Theme 2: This one doesn’t look right because we had no part of our annotations about sacrifice.Theme 3: Percy and the others are friends, but the main story isn’t about their friendship. Theme 1 would be a better answer. Theme 4: This one looks like it could really be a good answer too since we know there is evil and they kinda conquer it in the end. Love isn’t a big portion of this though, and we don’t have any #bigideas about teamwork.It looks like theme 1 is the best answer for Percy Jackson, so we draw a line from one box to the other.


Let’s take a look at Percy Jackson since we’ve been reading that recently. We’re going to have to use some of our prior knowledge here to answer the theme questions. While reading the summary, I notice that Percy sets out on an adventure and there’s a battle he needs to stop. This sounds like a tough spot to be in for a kid his age! I’m going to add a #bravery here since Percy has to be brave to be in this kind of situation.


8 minutesCC: S to read directions.CC: What two things should I be doing as I work my way through the summaries? (underline, #big ideas)


A Little Help from My Friends

Directions: Draw lines from each theme to its matching book. Underline important parts from the summary and add #bigidea where you notice them.

The London Eye Mystery

Kat and her brother Ted, who has a disability, watch their cousin Jack board the London Eye

ride. But after half an hour it lands and everyone gets off — except Jack. Where could

he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and Kat

become investigating partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite Kat’s

doubts about her brother’s ability, Ted proves essential in unraveling the mystery to find

their cousin.

THEME 1: For teens, social concerns can be more

important than anything.

Unwind

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them.

THEME 2: Differences in abilities don’t have to limit

people

Ghostgirl

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really "is"

invisible. Even worse: she's dead. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative

about achieving her goal.

THEME 3: Things are not always as they appear

The Haunting of Hill House

The four visitors at Hill House-- some there for knowledge, others for adventure-- are unaware that the old mansion will soon

choose one of them to make its own.

THEME 4: Friends can be the key to survival

The Historian

A young woman is forced to discover the secrets of her family's past connect to an

unimaginable evil: she is the great great great granddaughter of Vlad the Impaler- an evil

king who reigned in terror.

THEME 5:You can never bury your past

More Help from My Friends


15 minutesMove into the 3 little pigs. Read the three little pigs with the students. Write a summary together. When I write summaries, I like to think of what happened at the beginning, middle, and end. What happened at the beginning o the story? After being sent out by their mother, 3 pigs each build their own house. The middle? A hungry wolf goes by the houses made of straw and sticks, causing the pigs to run to the third little pigs house. The end? The wolf tries to blow down the brick house, but he can’t. He climbs down the chimney where the pigs have boiling soup for him to burn himself. Idea is to help reinforce summary skill they just learned and to make sure they have comprehended the story. Summarizing as a comprehension strategy.


The Historian


Unwind


The Haunting of Hill House


The London Eye Mystery


Ghostgirl


7 minutesNow we’re going to work on summaries from books we have never seen. Our #bigideas and underlining are going to be extra important here since we don’t know anything else about the book.Give students 8 minutes for SP work on making connections to themes. 2 minutes to go over each answer.Circulate to make sure groups are making the right connections and are annotating. CC: on two different summaries and have students explain eh following What big idea did you find in the summary. What details showed you this big ideaWhat is the theme you matched it with?


Directions: Write a summary of the story

Find Big Ideas Summarize the connection between the big ideas and the characters

State the theme as a big idea about life

What is the theme of the story?

Directions: Write two pieces of evidence that show the theme

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Teacher is circulating to check for on task work as well as answers, if students are not able to understand the theme, pull back early and fix misunderstanding by breaking down each step. What are examples of big ideas we learned last week? Topics? What is a big idea we see in this text?What impact does this big idea have in the characters lives?What does this teach us abot the world? Hwo can we rephrase this so it can apply to life? Like a piece of advice.


The first and second pig run to the third pigs house after the wolf blows their house down. The little pigs work together to figure at the brick house and out the pot underneath the chimney for the wolf. CC: On students to share details that show the theme->


The little pigs are able to defeat the wolf by working together to come up with a strategy. When in danger, work with others to stay safe.


In SP pairs, fill in the theme chart and details. Danger, Teamwork, Strategy, Safety


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The prince falls in love with her right away. She doesn’t think a prince would fall in love with her.


Many people are beautiful on the inside and out without knowing it


Cinderella is beautiful but does not know it


#Beauty #Evil #luck


If we are moving very quickly or if students finish early in SP work, they can move on to reading Cinderella and filling out this chart. THIS IS EXTRA WORK in case we are moving very quickly. Cinderella is a stepdaughter of a mean lady who treats her very poorly. Cinderella is visited by a fairy godmother who sends her to the princes ball, but she must be back at midnight. After dancing with the prince, she realizes she has to leave but forget the shoe. The prince fits the shoe on girls across the kingdom and finds Cinderella.


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SHOWTIMEDirections: Read the following alternative ending to the 3 Little Pigs. Then, fill in the theme chart

below.

The little pigs realized that the wolf was just hungry. They invited him in for a nice vegetarian meal. The wolf realized he was silly to be so mean, and he decided to become best friends with the 3 little pigs. They lived happily ever after in their nice brick home.





Sometimes it is best to treat people who are mean by being very kind. This can cause them to be kind in return.


The wolf is treated with kindness by the pigs and that causes him to show kindness.


15 minutes- 10 minutes to complete. 5 minutes to discuss. This should be done independently by students. It should DEF be discussed as a group because it is a big lesson they are learning about theme on their own. If we do not discuss it at the end of the first day, we can discuss it at the beginning of the second day.


1. Did the new ending change the theme of the story? Why or why not? Explain your answer in at least two complete sentences.

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1. If you wanted “The Three Little Pigs” to have the theme “tragic situations are a part of life”, how might you change the ending to show this?

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Students should include something tragic- IN the new ending, the pigs could die because the wolf is able to enter. Warn students ahead of time to be respectful here and not GORY.


Try to SHOWCALL a student here who has answered the questions in the format we use. Answer+Evidence+ElaborationYes the new ending did change the theme of the story. Now that the wolf is invited in with the pigs, he sees that it is best to be kind. This shows that the theme is no longer about teamwork to hurt the wolf, but instead, about how kindness can spread.


#Caring #Friendship #Kindness


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Directions: We are now going to write our own fairy tales that illustrate a theme. Follow the directions in each box below to plan out your story.

1. Circle the theme your group will write about.

When everything else is going wrong, you can count on your true

friends.

People in positions of power don’t always use their power for the good of everyone else.

2. Circle a setting for your story to take place.

A beautiful castle on top of a hill A hidden forest near a village.

3. Create 3 to 4 main characters and describe them. How old are they? What is their personality like? What are their relationships like with each other? (HINT: one character should probably be EVIL!)

Name Description1.

2.

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5 minutesBefore sending them into this activity, quickly model by finding one character myself. Hmm, I need to think about a character who can help me show the theme People in positions of power and he or she needs to be a character who would live in a castle. My first character will be KING EDWARD. He will be young like 12 and will be given power after his father dies. Now with your SP create 3 to 4 characters for your story. You will be allowed to write more into your story, but these should be the main characters that help show the theme.


Chunk this for students by giving them 3 minutes to decide with their SP what the theme of their story will be. And where it will take place.


Extended writing activity today. WE are going to focus on writing our own fairy tales to show a theme. This means we have to think very carefully about how we can best show that theme.


4.

4. Create the conflict. What goes wrong in the story?

5. Create the resolution. How is the confict resolved? How does the story end? This should be a chance for the theme of your story to SHINE!

Checkpoint!Explain how the ending of your

story shows the theme you

chose.


This si the most important part. Students should take 3 to 4 minutes to explain how the ending of their story show their theme. If the ending does not connect to the theme, they need to rewrite it. Teacher should be circulating and checking hotspots where Students might be off track. Bigger misunderstanding could fall around the power because they might cause it to end happily, like they are taken away. Ask them that if they read this, what lesson would they be taking away?


5 minutes to CC: How is the conflict resolved in the three little pigs? They come together and put the pot of water out. Yes this really shows the theme of teamwork. Your resolution should really show the theme. Remember though, the story does not have to have a happy ending, especially if you chose the theme of power in the wrong hands.


This conflict should set up my theme to be shown. CC: In the three little pigs, what is the conflict? The wolf blows down houses because he wants to eat the pigs. Yes, the two little pigs have to run to the other pigs house because of this conflict. This sets them up to have to come together



Section 2Directions: Now you are going to write out the story you planned.

The Beginning

Answer the following kinds of questions in this section: Who are your characters? Where are they at? What are they like? What’s going on in their lives?

Once upon a time…

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Students should split up here. And they should be INDEPENDENTLY writing their own story. Emphasize here that what is cool about this is even though they collaborate with their SP, they will still produce different stories that tell the same theme. We are unique so the way we write will be different. Set a timer for the remaining time in class minus 5 minutes. Give time checks so that the time is split pretty evently. “At this point you should be wrapping up the beginning, the middle, the end…”


Extended writing activity today. WE are going to focus on writing our own fairy tales to show a theme. This means we have to think very carefully about how we can best show that theme. We will be grading this as an exit ticket.


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The Middle

Answer the following kinds of questions in this section: What events lead up to the conflict? What is the conflict? How do the characters feel during the conflict?

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The End

Answer the following kinds of questions in this section: How is the conflict resolved? Include details that show the theme of the story.

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I AM READING ___________________________’s story


Last 10 minutes, students will trade papers with someone other than SP and they will read their paper. They will guess the theme by filling in the chart and write down evidence that showed the theme .

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