Take a Peek at My Week

I will be completely honest; I am totally procrastinating. It's only Monday, but it feels like this week has been going on forever already. To aid in my procrastination, I am joining Jennifer over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to participate in "Take a Peek at My Week".
Below is a quick look at some of what I've got planned this week.

Today we had a lesson at introducing how authors use 'pace' and 'time' in memoirs. I started by playing music to get them thinking about pace. We started off with some slow Nora Jones to which they declared, "It's so boring!" After a brief discussion, we listened to 'Sigh No More' (Mumsford & Sons) which led to a good discussion about pace, timing, and why artists choose to use different pacing and timing at different times. It led into a smooth transition into discussing pacing and timing in memoirs. 

 Okay, so I actually this lesson today. The goal was to teach the kids about inferring themes from a novel. I knew it was going to be a lofty goal, I just didn't know how lofty. First, since we have been doing tons of hands-on and collaborative activities, they were simply not used to sitting, listening, and learning. After what seemed like forever, the majority of them finally started to get with the program, and we were able to do the fun-ish activity: listening/watching the theme music & opening of the classic 'Full House' (an idea I got from I'm Lovin Lit) and then using a graphic organizer to determine the theme of it. They did seem to enjoy this part and do a fairly good job at the skill, so I guess it was a win... kind of.

Our current reading theme is 'Personal Transformation'. One of my classes is reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper (wonderful, touching book). In an attempt to get them reading, comprehending, and working with nonfiction texts and giving them a chance to apply the skills of blogging, writing, and inferring theme, I am in the midst of creating a project for them. Don't judge me as it's still in the planning stages... They will have a choice between OJ Brigance and Stephen Hawking (both have physical limitations similar to the main character in our story). They will read preselected articles on the person they select, write an informative blog entry about him, and discuss the themes that can be learned from him. I'll let you know how it turns out :)

Teaching Theme (w/ a FREEBIE!)

Teaching theme is one of those skills that everyone seems to teach slightly different. Some accept one word as an acceptable theme and others accept themes with story specific information. As I embarked on teaching my 5^th graders theme, I wanted to make sure that I taught them correctly, so I did some research…. and checked with a middle school English teacher :)

 

Since theme is the life lesson or message, it’s important that the theme is written in a statement. The one word concept (ex. friendship, individuality, loyalty) is the thematic topic. The theme is a sentence or statement about the topic. Remembering that the theme is a universal lesson, it should not be story specific. A strong theme is woven throughout the entire text and is supported by the text, but the theme is something that is implied and inferred by the text. (Ex. Love is all you need, Earn respect by giving respect, etc.)

After looking at several different graphic organizers but not finding one that was “just right” for my purposes, I decided to create my own. I used the idea of a tree from the blog I'm Lovin' Lit, but changed the order around.

First, have students determine the topic and write it in the center, in the “knot”. Next, students write the theme, statement about the topic, on the leaves of the tree. At the bottom where the roots are, students write the details from the story that support the theme. 

This graphic organizer is a great way for students to learn and practice this skill or use as a guide when writing or having a discussion about the theme of a story. To get your FREE copy, click here.