Date: 3/16/15

Grade/Class/Subject: 3rd grade Reading

Unit Theme: Reading Literature

Standards:
Standard: 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.
Standard 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.
Standard SL.3.6: Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested
detail or clarification.
Standard L.3.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or
speaking.
Standard L.3.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Standard RF.3.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Content Objective(s):
1. SWBAT identify the key details in two pieces of text.
2. SWBAT discuss the moral or lessons presented in each text, either one-on-one or small groups of 3 or 4.
3. SWBAT will then participate in a class discussion about the main lesson presented in each text and why
they are important.
Language Objective(s):
1. SWBAT understand what a moral lesson is.
Key Vocabulary:

analyze
central message
determine
explicit
fable
folktale
implicit/implied
lesson
myth
moral
recount
retell

Supplementary Materials:
1.
2.

Copy of The Tortoise and the Hare

Posters

****SIOP Features***

Preparation
o Adaption of Content
o Links to Background
x Links to Past Learning
x Strategies incorporated

Scaffolding
o Modeling
x Guided Practice
x Independent Practice
o Comprehensible Input

Grouping Options
x Whole Class
x Small Groups
x Partners
o Independent

Integration of Processes
x Reading
o Writing
x Speaking
x Listening

Application
o Hands-on
x Meaningful
x Linked to Objectives
x Promotes Engagement

Assessment
x Individual Group
x Group
o Written
x Oral

Lesson Sequence:
Introduction:
1. I will introduce the days activities.
2. I will go over the days objectives and explain what I want them to do.
Daily Review:
1. I will review on how we determine the key details of a story (what, when, where, why, and how).
Daily Objectives:
1. SWBAT identify and write the lessons or morals presented in the texts and participate in a classroom discussion about
the lessons and why they are important in daily life.
Concept:
1. Reading Literature
2. Identifying the moral or central lessons in pieces of text and applying to their daily lives.
Content Inside the Curriculum:
1. The students will be learning exactly what a moral/lesson is, and will be able to identify them in pieces of text.
Content Outside the Curriculum:
1. The students will get the chance to relate this unit back to any lessons or morals theyve been taught, as demonstrated
with the poster assignment.
Guided Practice:
1. I will read The Tortoise and the Hare out loud to the class.
2. The students will then talk amongst themselves and discuss what they believe the lesson(s) is in The Tortoise and the
Hare.
3. The class will participate in a short discussion about the lesson in that text.
4. I will read The Boy Who Cried Wolf out loud to the class.
5. The students will discuss amongst themselves again and figure out what the lesson(s) is in The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
6. The class will participate in another short discussion about the lesson in the text.
Grouping:

1.

Students will put themselves into small groups, either one-on-one or groups of 3 or 4 while discussing the lesson(s).

Independent:
1. After the class discussion, the students will individually work on a poster project, in which they will draw a picture
showing a lesson they have learned. They will also work on it at home and turn it in 3 days after it is assigned.
Long-Term Review:
1. I will come back to moral lessons when we read any text that this applies to.
Closure:
1. At the end of class, I will review the objectives and quickly review the days activities.
Homework:
1. Students will continue working on their poster at home and be expected to turn it in 3 days.
Assessment:
1. While participating in the discussion, I will assess if the students understand the lesson(s) in The Tortoise and the
Hare and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. If there are students struggling to find the lesson, other students who find the
lesson right away will help them and point them in the right direction.

"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Aesop

There was once a shepherd boy who grew bored as he sat on the hillside watching the
village sheep. To amuse himself, he cried out, "Wolf! Wolf! There's a wolf chasing the
sheep!"
The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they
arrived at the top, there was no wolf in sight. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry
faces.
"You shouldn't cry 'wolf', shepherd boy," the villagers said, "when there is no wolf!" Then
they went grumbling back down the hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!" And to his
naughty delight, the villagers all came running up the hill again to help him scare the wolf
away.
But when the villagers saw there was no wolf, they said to the boy, "Save it for when
something is actually wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there's NO wolf!"
But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.
Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and
called out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!"
But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their
sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy, and saw that he was crying.
"There was really a wolf this time! The flock has scattered! I cried out, 'Wolf!' Why didn't you
come?
An old man tried to comfort him as they walked back to the village.

"We'll help you look for the sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the boy's
shoulders.

The Tortoise and the Hare by Aesop

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone
else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then one day, the irate tortoise answered
back: Who do you think you are? Theres no denying youre swift, but even you can be
beaten! The hare squealed with laughter.
Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet theres nobody in the world that can win
against me, Im so speedy. Now, why dont you try?
Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was planned, and
the next day at dawn they stood at the starting line. The hare yawned sleepily as the meek
tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how painfully slow his rival was, he decided,
half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap. Take your time! he said. Ill have forty winks
and catch up with you in a minute.
The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the tortoise. But
the creature was only a short distance away, having barely covered a third of the course.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he
went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby field. But the heavy meal and the
hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the tortoise, now halfway along
the course, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning post. And
smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoises face when it saw the hare speed by, he
fell fast asleep and was soon snoring happily. The sun started to sink, below the horizon,
and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards the winning post since morning, was
scarcely a yard from the finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the
tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate,
his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and hed be first at the finish. But
the hares last leap was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him to the winning post.

Poor hare! Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently
smiling at him.