Virginia L.

Servin
May 14, 2015

ED 464 LESSON PLAN

INSTRUCTIONAL UNIT
TEACHER:
Virginia L. Servin

GRADE:
4th grade

SUBJECT:
Language Arts

MATERIALS:
Main Idea vs. Theme Anchor
Chart
Main Idea vs. Theme Sort
Reading Passage, Honoring
King
A Picture Book of Anne Frank by
David Adler
Graphic Organizer
Markers

TECHNOLOGY:
SmartBoard and/or
Elmo (if available)

TITLE/AUTHOR OF TEXT:
A Picture Book of Anne Frank
by David Adler

STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES

ACADEMIC OBJECTIVE:
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to differentiate between the text main
idea and a theme. Students will also be able to identify a theme in a biographical text.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
RL 4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
RI 4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RI 4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key
details; summarize the text.
RI 4.3: Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or
technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the
text.
RI 4.8: Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in
a text.
LITERACY ACTIVITY
Main Idea vs. Theme

LITERACY STRATEGY
Say Something Reader Response

ADAPTATIONS FOR LEARNERS

FOCUS STUDENT #1 (ELD):
I adapted my lesson for my ELD students
by offering them books on Martin Luther
King Jr. and Anne Frank with simpler texts.
This way, students will be have prior
knowledge and will feel more confident in
knowing more information of who we will

RATIONALE:
This adaptation will be beneficial to ELD
students because they will be have some
prior knowledge of the famous people we
will be discussing.

Virginia L. Servin
May 14, 2015

be reading for my lesson.

FOCUS STUDENT #2 (Introverted
Student):
My second adaptation is offering students
to work in either small groups or with
partners.

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
(outcome, product based)
Students will be formally
assessed based on their
independent practice.
Students will complete a
graphic organizer in which
students will identify the main
events/accomplishments and
based on that, they will
identify the theme of the
biography.

RATIONALE:
This adaptation is beneficial for students
who are introverted because it allows
them to participate in the assignments
and it offers them a comfortable setting.

TEXT FEATURES
(layout, format,
headings)

VOCABULARY/ACADEMI
C LANGUAGE

Illustrations (black and

white and in color)
Quotes
Captions
Maps

Hollocaust
Nazis
Germany
Jewish
David Star
Refugee

LESSON PLAN
ORIENTATION-DIRECT EXPLANATION + MODELING (INTO)
Teacher will introduce the lesson by identifying the difference between Main Idea
and Theme using an anchor chart
Once students grasp the concept, students will work with in groups of 3 to complete
a sort activity. In this activity, students will sort different sentences/phrases and
categorize it under Main Idea or Theme.
Teacher will go around asking students to share what they placed the specific
sentences under.
GUIDED PRACTICE (THROUGH)
Teacher will explain that universal themes can be found in nonfiction stories about a
persons life. By reading articles, biographies, speeches, and other informational
texts, we can identify the universal theme of a persons life. We can use the major
events and accomplishments of a persons life to identify what the theme of their life
has been.
Teacher will distribute the article Honoring King.
With a partner, students will take turns reading, stopping where it is designated on
the handout.
Students will take turns saying something about what they just read. Students can
either:
o Make a prediction
o Ask a question
o Clarify something you had misunderstood

Virginia L. Servin
May 14, 2015

o Make a comment
o Make a connection
Teacher will pull out a name or two so that students can share out with the class
what was discussed with their partner.
Once everyone has read, we will list the major events and/or accomplishments of
Martin Luther King, Jr. on a chart paper/whiteboard.
Teacher will identify the universal theme of Honoring King as peace and equality.
Martin Luther King led peaceful boycotts and won the Nobel Peace Prize. He wanted
equal rights for all people regardless of race.
To check for understanding, I will ask students:
o How did we identify the theme of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life?
Students should respond that we read factual information about him and used major
events and accomplishments from his life to draw a conclusion about a theme in his
life.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE + FROMATIVE ASSESSMENT (BEYOND)
Students will read A Picture Book of Anne Frank by David Adler.
Students will work independently to identify the main events or accomplishments of
Anne Franks life.
They will identify the theme based on these events.

Engagement Principles: Indicate which engagement principles you

incorporated into your lesson and how.
________ Interesting Text ________________________________________________
________ Choice _______________________________________________________
________ Relevance ____________________________________________________
________ Collaboration _________________________________________________
________ Concept-Building _____________________________________________
Reflection: What do you consider went well in teaching this lesson (effective
activities, assessment, presentation, text, engagement, etc.)? What do you
consider did not go as well as you had planned (unclear modeling or guided
practice, lack of engagement, poor text choice, etc.)? What adaptations would you
make to the lesson in order for it to be more effective?