SAUSD Common Core Lesson Planner

Teacher: Ms. Ramirez

Unit: Fables
Lesson #: 1

Grade Level/Course:
3rd grade

Common Core
and Content
Standards

Reading: Literature
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message,
lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
Speaking and Listening
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1.B
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with
care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1.C
Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to
the remarks of others.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.4
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant,
descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4
With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are
appropriate to task and purpose.
Language
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.I
Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.G
Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3
reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.4.D
Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning
of key words and phrases.

Materials/
Resources/
Lesson
Preparation

Date: _Day 1 and 2_

Aesops The Tortoise and the Hare

(http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TorHar.shtml)
Printed copies of The Tortoise and the Hare
Youtube video of The Tortoise and the Hare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pNwvz1ml-Bw)
Objectives

Depth of
Knowledge
Level
College and
Career Ready

Content:
Students will learn what a fable is and how
to identify a story that is a fable.

Level 1: Recall
Level 3: Strategic Thinking

Language:
Students will describe fables as simple stories that
usually have animal characters. They will also be able
to explain that the characters actions teach readers a
moral lesson.
Level 2: Skill/Concept
Level 4: Extended Thinking

Demonstrating independence
Building strong content knowledge

SAUSD Common Core Lesson Template

Responding to varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline

Comprehending as well as critiquing

Skills

Valuing evidence
Using technology and digital media strategically and capably
Coming to understand other perspectives and cultures
Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction texts

TEACHER PROVIDES
SIMPLE EXPLANATION

STUDENTS
MEANING FIGURE OUT
THE

(Tier II & Tier III)

Academic Vocabulary

Common Core
Instructional
Shifts

Reading and writing grounded from text

Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary
KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO
WORDS WORTH KNOWING
UNDERSTANDING

Moral, forth, contempt, progress

Fixed, save

From reading:
Boasting, darted, plodded, steady

Challenge

Pre-teaching
Considerations
CCSS
Foundational
Standards
(K-5 only)

Do students understand what is expected from them during collaborative work?

Fluency:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.4
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.4.A
Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Lesson

Instructional
Methods
Lesso
n
Open
ing

Lesson Delivery
Check method(s) used in the lesson:
Modeling
Guided Practice
Collaboration
Independent Practice
Guided Inquiry
Reflection
Engage in a class discussion.
Ask the class if they have pets.
Have students share what type of pets they have had.
See if anyone has had any strange pets.
Ask the class if they enjoy animal stories, and if they do, which ones.

SAUSD Common Core Lesson Template

Questioning/Engagement/Writing/Checking for Understanding

Continuum

Activities/Tasks/ Strategies/Technology/

Differentiated Instruction:

1. Pull up Aesops The Tortoise and the Hare on the digital

projector and read the short story out loud to the class. Pass out
paper copies of the story to students and read the story again.
Ask students, What type of story did I just read?
Define Fable: Short stories that usually have animal characters.
The characters actions teach readers a moral lesson.
What is a moral lesson?
What was the moral lesson learned in The Tortoise and the
Hare - "Slow but steady progress wins the race."
Do you agree or disagree? Share examples.
2. Instruct students to gather into small groups (groups of 4) and
rewrite the story in their own words allowing students to change
what types of animals they use in their story.
In groups, each student will circle words in the story that they are
unfamiliar with and see if other group members can help in
figuring out what the words mean.
Ask class what words they do not understand (boasting, darted,
contempt, plodded?). List on board. Give class brief explanations
for each word with the use of a dictionary. With the help of the
class, write alternate words that can be used in place of those
words on the board as well.
Allow appropriate time for groups to rewrite the story. Walk
around and offer groups help as necessary.
3. Ask 3 different groups to come up to the front of the class and
share their rewritten story.
4. Show Youtube video of someones interpretation of The Tortoise
and the Hare.
Ask for students feedback regarding the video clip. Did they
find it fun and creative?
5. Introduce unit group project (summative assessment) so students
can begin to think about it.
Group presentations: Choose a fable and interpret it in your own
way. Students may create a video, or if access to technology is a
challenge, students may act the story out in class with use of
props. Rubrics will be provided in order to keep students on task
and organized.
6. Ticket out the door (formative assessment) A written short
response - I will be asking students two questions before leaving
class:
What did I learn? and What is unclear to me?
The purpose is to encourage metacognition. By answering these
questions students will really be asking themselves What do I need to
work on? They will be able to figure out what areas they will need extra
help in and learn to understand themselves.
7. Homework: Visit the class website and follow the link located in
the Fables Unit Plan page. Read Aesops The Boy Who Cried
Wolf and participate in the online class discussion board.
Lesson Reflection

SAUSD Common Core Lesson Template

English Learners:
Provide a copy of the story
the day before for students to
read at home beforehand.

Special Needs:

Keep in mind to speak at an

appropriate pace.

Accelerated Learners:

Teacher
Reflection
Evidenced
by Student
Learning/
Outcomes

Use student feedback in the ticket out the door to discover what needs extra attention and improve on
these areas.

SAUSD Common Core Lesson Template