Kurt Sowa Lesson Title: Mini-lesson Fables Grade: 4 Common Core Standards: KID.

.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. KID.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text. RRCT.10 By end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grade 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed as needed at the high end of the range. Objective: Students will listen as the teacher reads aloud, for various characters and their vice, which leads to the moral. Students will develop a deeper understanding of fables, and recognize the characteristics that are consistent within the genre. Materials: The Hare and the Tortoise by Brian Wildsmith, The Lion and the Mouse, fable characteristic chart, pencils, post-its Procedure: 1. Before Reading Boys and girls, last week we learned what a folktale was. We learned that there is a character that goes on a quest, runs into a conflict. Eventually there is a resolution to the conflict. Today, we will learn about fables. Has anyone ever read a fable (thumbs up)? Now I want you to turn and talk to your and I want you to see if you can come up with some characteristics of a fable. What is a fable? Elicit answers from students and put the post its on the chart. Now show the students the chart. A foible is a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect. Fables are short stories that each a lesson or a moral. Many fables are from thousands of years ago. The stories have lasted all these years, being passed down from generation to generation, because they are teaching stories. These stories often use talking animals. Some of the animals in fables make mistakes, like people do, and there are lessons in those mistakes. Other animals exhibit particularly good character traits, and because of this, they become models for how the rest of us should behave. This probably sounds familiar to you fables are a lot like myth they are cautionary tales. Today, I am going to read to you The Hare and the Tortoise by Brian Wildsmith. As I read aloud, I will stop and point out the characteristics in a fable. Afterwards, we will discuss the moral that is being taught. 2. During Reading Read book. Stop on page 2 and point out characteristics 2, 5, and 6. Stop on page 3 and point out characteristic 4. 3. After Reading

Now class I want you to go back to your seats. I want you to get out your notebooks and write down the lesson that is being taught to us through this book. It only has to be a sentence or two. We will discuss what you have written in a few minutes. Allow students to write in their notebooks. Answers: Do not be egotistical. Even if all the odds are stacked against you, always try your best because you never know what can happen. Slow and steady wins the race. Characteristics 1 and 3. 4. Closure Remember... characters serve a purpose in stories. In fables, the animal characters are put there to help us understand the lesson being taught by the story. When we read fables, paying attention to the animal characters and figuring out what message they are bringing to us will help us understand the fable. In all stories we read, it is important to pay attention to the characters and ask ourselves these questions: why are they in the story? What purpose do they serve in the story? Is there something particular that the author wants us to notice about them and their actions and their interactions with other characters? So, as you read, not just fables, not just today, but anything, any day, remember that authors are often out to teach lessons. They do this through major and minor characters and yes, even through talking animals. Assessment (How will you know the lesson has been successful) Students will be successful if they are able to identify characters and their vice, which leads to moral. Also, students should be able to note additional characteristics of a fable from the chart.

1. Teach a Moral or a lesson 2. Characters usually take the form of animals and are painted with a few broad strokes 3. Teach humans a lesson about recognizing and overcoming their foibles 4. One animal/character usually display vice or foible being critiqued. This foible is what brings embarrassment or downfall to the character and this conclusion leads directly to the moral. 5. Title cues who or what to pay attention to 6. Each animal/character has symbolic value represents a human trait