Unit of Study: Story Creation with Technology

Title of Minilesson: Theme

Teaching Point: Theme is the message of the story.

CCSS _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.

Connect/PURPOSE (What, Why, When) (1-2 minutes)

(Connect) Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about some of the elements that writers

use to create a great story. This includes “Show, Not Tell”, setting, and the different parts that

make a plot. (have a student share what they remember about each)

(What) Today, we’ll be learning about another story element, Theme.

Like “Show, Don’t Tell” the author uses characters, setting, and plot to have readers infer the

Theme instead of just telling them. It’s the deeper message of a story that the author wants their

readers to come away with. Usually these are universal values or morals for readers to learn

from.

Oftentimes, people mix this up with main idea. The Main Idea is about the plot/what happens in

the story while Theme is message or lesson the author is trying to tell.

(Why) Themes make our writing more meaningful by reflecting our values and teaching readers

a life lesson.
Model/Demonstrate/Teach/Provide Information (How) (3-5 minutes) (I do)

Now, let’s consider the movie Finding Nemo.

By thinking about what the characters did and the different parts of the plot, I can think of a few

themes that could work for this one movie:

 Family

 Friendship

Adapted from Calkins

  Keep on trying

 Always have hope

 Believe in yourself

All these statements are either values (like family and friendship) or life lessons (keep on trying,

always have hope, believe in yourself), or what you call the THEME.

What are some themes that you can think of from Finding Nemo? Why do you think that can be

a theme? Students share other themes and why they work

Engage/Guided Practice (2-3 minutes) (we do)

Today we will be creating a story as a group using a theme that one of you will get to pick! Here

I have three envelopes with a theme inside and a story starter that will help us start the beginning

of the story. I will have one of the other teachers pick a popsicle stick with one of your names on

it and whoever that is will pick the envelope and read the theme and story starter to me!

You each have a plot paper where you will write alongside our story. Now that we have the

theme written down we are going to write the story together! The first part of the story is the

beginning where we introduce the characters. I will popsicle stick another person that will

describe what happens next and introduce the first character for us. Since this is a groups story

whenever someone gives their idea I will ask the rest of you what else we can add or if you all

think it is good as is we can move on to the next part. Does that sound good? (We will do that for

the rest of the plot)

Link to Independent Work (1-2 minutes)

Now that we have the story together we get to make a puppet show with our story! Each of you

will create one of the characters for our story. I will have another teacher pick out a popsicle stick

at a time and that person will get first pick on which character they want to create. (We will have

Adapted from Calkins

10 minutes to create puppets).

Now I was thinking of how can we come up with a script and thought that is a lot of work for the

short amount of time we have, then I thought about what we learned a while ago about showing

not telling. Then I realized a good challenge for you all was to have a silent puppet show, that

way we literally show and not tell.

*(This is where the facilitator will find a background that fits the setting we chose)

Independent work (30-60 minutes) (you do, I watch) Workshop Time – Students

Working/Teacher Conferring or Working with Small Groups

Teachers will work with students to ensure their character reflects the character they chose.

Sharing (2-4 minutes)

We will watch our puppet show as a group first, if possible, if not share with the class.

Close (1-2 minutes)

Today, we learned about theme as a story element. It’s the universal moral or lesson of the story

that the author wants their audience to come away with. These make our stories more meaningful

and teach readers values that they can use in their lives. As you continue on in your writing

journey, when creating stories make sure you make your writing meaningful by creating a theme

for your stories.

Teacher Reflection –
What specific evidence do you have that students did/did not meet today’s learning target?

Students are able to recall setting and plot (Our group plot graph).

Students are able to come up with examples of themes (Nemo).

Students are able to identify themes in stories (ones that other groups share).

Students are able to create a short film centered on a theme (Our puppet show).

Adapted from Calkins

Adapted from Calkins