Astor, Jessica
Subject: Literacy
Grade: 8
Essential Question: What are the skills needed to perform successfully within Literacy?
Unit Description: This is the first lesson in a series of five lessons within a strategies/skills unit.
This mini-unit focuses on the top weaknesses found across grade 8 in the ELA Baseline Exam.
Within class 803 the major weakness found was in CCLS RL8.2. In this particular lesson,
students will learn how to identify theme within a piece of literature. Students will engage in
several different activities to support their learning and will have several different opportunities
throughout the lesson to share their new knowledge.
Standards:
RL 8.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course
of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective
summary of the text.
RL 8.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL 8.11: Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, artistically and ethically
by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events, and
situations.
W 8.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
Objective:
Students will be able to:
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Read, annotate, discuss and extract the theme within a variety of literary text.
Locate evidence within a text, which supports the overall theme of the text.
Compile their interpretations about theme using a worksheet/graphic organizer.
Time Frame: 1 period (40 minutes)
Materials:
Smart board, chart paper, markers, power point presentation, graphic organizer, exit slips
and texts. (“The Wind and the Sun”, “The Fox and the Grape”, “The Ant and the
Grasshopper”, “The Eagle and the Fox”, “The Fox Who Lost it’s Tail”, “The Frogs and
the Well”, “The Turnip” by The Grimm Brothers, “Demosthenes” by John Haaren,
Icarus and Daedalus” by Josephine Preston Peabody and “A Pair of Silk stockings” by
Kate Chopin.)
Aim: How can we identify theme within a piece of literature?
Motivation: The teacher will begin the class by asking “Can anyone can recall the story “The
Tortoise and the Hare?” He/she will ask a student to recall the story and share it with the class.
(2-4 minutes)
Share Out: After the story has been shared the teacher will ask the students “What is the overall
message of the story?” (1-2 minutes)
Mini Lesson: Teacher explains that being able to identify a theme in literature isn’t always
simple. The teacher will ask students “What is theme?” and create a working list of their
responses on chart paper. The teacher will then share a formal definition of theme with the
students, allowing them a few seconds to copy the definition within their Writer’s Notebook.
Theme – an opinion about life or human nature or society that the writer shares with the reader.
It is usually not stated, but must be inferred.
The teacher will then display the fable “The Wind and the Sun” and ask a volunteer to read it
aloud. After it is read aloud the teacher will ask “What is the main topic of the fable?” and
“What sentence(s) prove your point?”. The teacher will write student responses on chart paper.
The teacher will then use student suggestions and model a think-aloud of he/she annotating the
text. After the think-aloud the teacher will ask the class “What is the message the author is
trying to send?” and write student responses on chart paper. The teacher then checks for
understanding by looking to see if the theme from the text was mentioned and if everyone agrees
with the overall theme. (Kindness effects more than severity) (7-9 minutes)
Independent Work: Students will read their own fable and complete the steps within the mini
lesson on their own. The teacher will then tell the students to “Turn to your partner and provide
a quick summary of your fable and state your theme. Partners please ask them to provide
evidence, which support their theme. After partners will repeat the same steps.” The teacher
will walk around and check in with groups for understanding of the lesson. The teacher will then
select 4 students to share out. (5-6 minutes)
Collaborative Work: Students will be working in groups to identify the theme within texts.
Each group will receive a different literary text to read/annotate from the material list and be
asked to complete the graphic organizer provided. Groups will be told “Each group has a
different text to read, while reading annotate your text and select two main topics that are
supported by the text. Be sure to provide evidence to support the topics you have chosen. As a
group discuss the text and collaboratively come up with one major theme of the text. Be
prepared to share out as a group upon completion.” The teacher works with struggling groups
and checks-in with all groups to be sure they are on task and comprehending the task. (15-20
minutes)
Group Share Out: One member from each group will share out the overall theme of the text
their group was given and provide evidence to support the theme from within the text. The
teacher allows for additional questions and comments. (5 minutes)
Wrap Up/Conclusions: The teacher will ask students to submit an exit slip for today’s lesson. (5
minutes)
Homework: Students will read “A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin and annotate the text.
They will be asked to select two main topics and be ready to discuss the reasons on selecting the
main topics associated with the text.
Differentiation:
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Cynyah(H)
Goodness(H)
Jessica R.(H)
Mykal (H)
Keshena(H)
Eunice(H)
Alivia(H)
Tiana(H)
Chiani(H)
Christopher(H)
Sheila(M)
Sabrina(M)
Joseph(M)
Danny(M)
Elizabeth(M)
Jessica P.(M) Kalos(M)
Jada(M)
Melia(M)
Dujay(M)
Javier(L)
Jalen(L)
Talaia(L)
Ahmed(L)
Christina(L)
Earl(L)
Raven(L)
Sorina(L)
Tavon(L)
Sharlana(L)
*Please note groups are configured according to baseline data results. They are grouped by
scores and they are listed in descending order. Each group has a mixture of levels and students
are seated in an order which will allow for group assistance to happen. Below is a chart of how
groups are arranged:
Highest Score
Low Medium
Second Highest
Lowest Score
High Medium
Second Lowest
The Fox and the Grapes
One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes
just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench
my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the
bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success.
Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away
with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."
The Ant and the Grasshopper
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its
heart's 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:
The Eagle and the Fox
AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The
Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the underwood and
there produced her young. Not long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in
want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of
the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood. The Fox on her return, discovered what had
happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them.
A just retribution, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which
some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it,
along with a burning cinder, to her nest. A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and
the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at
the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.
The Fox Who Had Lost His Tail
A FOX caught in a trap escaped, but in so doing lost his tail. Thereafter, feeling his life a
burden from the shame and ridicule to which he was exposed, he schemed to convince all the
other Foxes that being tailless was much more attractive, thus making up for his own
deprivation. He assembled a good many Foxes and publicly advised them to cut off their tails,
saying that they would not only look much better without them, but that they would get rid of the
weight of the brush, which was a very great inconvenience. One of them interrupting him said,
"If you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would not thus counsel us."
The Frogs and the Well
Two Frogs lived together in a marsh. But one hot summer the marsh dried up, and they left it to
look for another place to live in: for frogs like damp places if they can get them. By and by they
came to a deep well, and one of them looked down into it, and said to the other, "This looks a
nice cool place. Let us jump in and settle here." But the other, who had a wiser head on his
shoulders, replied, "Not so fast, my friend. Supposing this well dried up like the marsh, how
should we get out again?"
The Turnip
by the Grimm Bothers
There were once two brothers who both served as soldiers, one of them was rich, and the other
poor. Then the poor one, to escape from his poverty, doffed his soldier's coat, and turned farmer.
He dug and hoed his bit of land, and sowed it with turnip-seed. The seed came up, and one turnip
grew there which became large and strong, and visibly grew bigger and bigger, and seemed as if
it would never stop growing, so that it might have been called the princess of turnips, for never
was such an one seen before, and never will such an one be seen again.
At length it was so enormous that by itself it filled a whole cart, and two oxen were required to
draw it, and the farmer had not the least idea what he was to do with the turnip, or whether it
would be a fortune to him or a misfortune. At last he thought, "if you sell it, what will you get for it
that is of any importance, and if you eat it yourself, why, the small turnips would do you just as
much good. It would be better to take it to the king, and make him a present of it."
So he placed it on a cart, harnessed two oxen, took it to the palace, and presented it to the king.
"What strange thing is this," said the king. "Many wonderful things have come before my eyes,
but never such a monster as this. From what seed can this have sprung, or are you a favorite of
good fortune and have met with it by chance."
"Ah, no", said the farmer, "no favorite am I. I am a poor soldier, who because he could no longer
support himself hung his soldier's coat on a nail and took to farming land. I have a brother who is
rich and well known to you, lord king, but I, because I have nothing, am forgotten by everyone."
Then the king felt compassion for him, and said, "You shall be raised from your poverty, and shall
have such gifts from me that you shall be equal to your rich brother."
Then he bestowed on him much gold, and lands, and meadows, and herds, and made him
immensely rich, so that the wealth of the other brother could not be compared with his.
When the rich brother heard what the poor one had gained for himself with one single turnip, he
envied him, and thought in every way how he also could come by a similar piece of luck. He set
about it in a much more cunning way, however, and took gold and horses and carried them to the
king, and made certain the king would give him a much larger present in return. If his brother had
got so much for one turnip, what would he not carry away with him in return for such beautiful
things as these.
The king accepted his present, and said he had nothing to give him in return that was more rare
and excellent than the great turnip. So the rich man was obliged to put his brother's turnip in a
cart and have it taken to his home. There, he did not know on whom to vent his rage and anger,
until bad thoughts came to him, and he resolved to kill his brother.
He hired murderers, who were to lie in ambush, and then he went to his brother and said, "Dear
brother, I know of a hidden treasure, we will dig it up together, and divide it between us."
The other agreed to this, and accompanied him without suspicion. While they were on their way
the murderers fell on him, bound him, and would have hanged him to a tree.
But just as they were doing this, loud singing and the sound of a horse's feet were heard in the
distance. On this their hearts were filled with terror, and they pushed their prisoner hastily into the
sack, hung it on a branch, and took to flight. He, however, worked up there until he had made a
hole in the sack through which he could put his head.
The man who was coming by was no other than a traveling student, a young fellow who rode on
his way through the wood joyously singing his song. When he who was aloft saw that someone
was passing below him, he cried, "Good day. You have come at a lucky moment."
The student looked round on every side, but did not know whence the voice came. At last he
said, "Who calls me?"
Then an answer came from the top of the tree, "Raise your eyes, here I sit aloft in the sack of
wisdom. In a short time have I learnt great things, compared with this all schools are a jest, in a
very short time I shall have learnt everything, and shall descend wiser than all other men. I
understand the stars, and the tracks of the winds, the sand of the sea, the healing of illness, and
the virtues of all herbs, birds and stones. If you were once within it you would feel what noble
things issue forth from the sack of knowledge."
The student, when he heard all this, was astonished, and said, "Blessed be the hour in which I
have found you. May not I also enter the sack for a while."
He who was above replied as if unwillingly, "For a short time I will let you get into it, if you reward
me and give me good words, but you must wait an hour longer, for one thing remains which I
must learn before I do it."
When the student had waited a while he became impatient, and begged to be allowed to get in at
once, his thirst for knowledge was so very great.
So he who was above pretended at last to yield, and said, "In order that I may come forth from
the house of knowledge you must let it down by the rope, and then you shall enter it."
So the student let the sack down, untied it, and set him free, and then cried, now draw me up at
once, and was about to get into the sack.
"Halt," said the other, "that won't do," and took him by the head and put him upside down into the
sack, fastened it, and drew the disciple of wisdom up the tree by the rope. Then he swung him in
the air and said, "How goes it with you, my dear fellow. Behold, already you feel wisdom coming,
and you are gaining valuable experience. Keep perfectly quiet until you become wiser."
Thereupon he mounted the student's horse and rode away, but in an hour's time sent someone to
let the student out again.
Name: ________________________________
Class: _______
Date: ___________
Exit Slip
Task: Read the following text and identify the theme.
Mercury and the Woodman
A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe, glancing off the trunk, flew out of
his hands and fell into the water. As he stood by the water's edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared
and asked him the reason for his grief. On learning what had happened, out of pity for his distress,
Mercury dived into the river and, bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had lost. The
Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second time, and, bringing up a silver axe,
asked if that was his. "No, that is not mine either," said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived into the
river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed at recovering his property, and
thanked his benefactor warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he made him a present
of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story to his companions, one of these was filled with
envy of his good fortune and determined to try his luck for himself. So he went and
began to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrived to let his axe drop into the water.
Mercury appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and brought up a golden
axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether it was his or not, the
fellow cried, "That's mine, that's mine," and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was
so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined to give him the golden axe, but also refused to
recover for him the one he had let fall into the stream.
Theme:
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