6th Grade Language Arts Standard 2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
Ed. Tech 6: Design, develop, publish and present products (e.g., Web pages, videotapes) using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside the classroom
Starting with a basic story that has a strong and present central theme. I want my students to be able to recognize what a main central idea (theme) is and tell me what the theme is. This is an introductory piece that I wrote that is an easy piece that has a lot of clues as to what the theme is. It follows an easy story line. This could be the first stepping stone before we start on recognizing themes of harder novels.
Follow link to read the story! Try and recognize the central idea (theme) of the story.
Raccoon's are NOT Superheros
Mapping Out the Story
6th Grade Reading Literature Standard 5: Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
Ed.Tech 6: Design, develop, publish and present products (e.g., Web pages, videotapes) using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside the classroom
The purpose of creating this mind map is to create and demonstrate an example of a project that I would want my students to do. This reinforces the idea or recognizing the importance of certain events in the text and how that develops throughout the story into the theme or plot. I chose Elijah of Buxton because it is a higher up read and has many events that occur that you wouldn't see playing a part in the theme. This project of using mind-mapping as a tool will help the students recognize and find developments in the story that contribute to the theme.
