This Lesson's Title:

Same-Theme/
Different-Story Stories

exploring a good book's many themes, then writing a new story that teaches the same theme

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Fox by Margaret Wild. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Fox at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

After enjoying the amazingly well-written story of Fox, students will work in small groups to generate possible themes that the book is trying to teach its readers. Themes will be shared whole-group, and a class list of the best themes will be posted for all to choose from. Students are then challenged to create a completely original story that teaches one of the class's chosen themes. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait for this writing assignment is idea development; to plan and then write a story based on a pre-determined theme is an excellent way to learn about idea development.  The support trait in this assignment is organization; writers are challenged to begin their original stories with an intriguing first sentence.