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English lesson plan · 4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 30 minutes

Theme

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.4.2CCSS RL.5.2England: Y5/6 Reading (themes)England: KS2 SATs Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Theme.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: The lesson or moral

Leads to: Literary analysis: theme, symbol, ambiguity; What does the symbol represent?; Poetry forms: sonnet, haiku, limerick, ballad, free verse…

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (The lesson or moral). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. A little ant worked hard all summer, storing food. A grasshopper just sang. When winter came, the ant had food and the grasshopper was hungry. What is the lesson? (Ants are stronger than grasshoppers. / Singing is bad. / Winter is cold. / It is wise to prepare for the future.) → It is wise to prepare for the future.Prompt: What did the main character learn by the end?
  2. Lila told her mum she had finished her homework, but she hadn't. The next day her teacher kept her in at break to do it. What is the lesson? (Telling the truth is better than lying. / Break time is too short. / Homework is fun. / Teachers are strict.) → Telling the truth is better than lying.Prompt: What did the main character learn by the end?
  3. Zack teased Mo for being slow at reading. Later, Zack got stuck on a maths problem, and Mo kindly helped him. What is the lesson? (Maths is easier than reading. / Mo is better than Zack. / Reading is not important. / Everyone has different strengths, so don't tease others.) → Everyone has different strengths, so don't tease others.Prompt: What did the main character learn by the end?

Hook · 3 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Theme. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: The king had gold, jewels and a hundred rooms, yet he was lonely. The poor shepherd had only a hut, but his family filled it with laughter. What is the theme?
  • Step 1: A theme is the message about life that the story explores.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: Love matters more than wealth.
  • Answer: Love matters more than wealth.
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. The old fisherman had caught nothing for days. Still, every morning he rowed out. On the ninth day, his net came up full. What is the theme? (Fishing is boring. / Old people should rest. / The sea is dangerous. / Perseverance can pay off.) → Perseverance can pay off.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?
  2. The new boy didn't speak English yet. At first, Sam ignored him. Then they discovered they both loved football, and soon they didn't need many words at all. What is the theme? (Friendship can grow across differences. / New pupils should stay quiet. / Learning English is easy. / Football is the best sport.) → Friendship can grow across differences.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. The king had gold, jewels and a hundred rooms, yet he was lonely. The poor shepherd had only a hut, but his family filled it with laughter. What is the theme? (Huts are small. / Shepherds are poor. / Love matters more than wealth. / Kings are cruel.) → Love matters more than wealth.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: The lesson or moral.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Literary analysis: theme, symbol, ambiguity; What does the symbol represent?; Poetry forms: sonnet, haiku, limerick, ballad, free verse….
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Theme

Name

Date

Score/ 6

The Kite Festival

Amara had spent three weeks building her kite. She had bent the bamboo sticks, stretched the paper tight and painted a fierce golden dragon across the front. It was going to win the prize for best design at the town's kite festival. She was sure of it. On the morning of the festival, the field was crowded with families. Kites shaped like fish, birds and boats bobbed in the breeze. Amara's little brother, Kofi, trailed behind her, clutching a small diamond kite he had made from a plastic bag and two straws. "Mine's not very good," Kofi mumbled. Amara ran, and her dragon rose beautifully – until a sudden gust snapped one of the bamboo sticks. The kite twisted, spun and crashed into the grass. The paper ripped right through the dragon's face. Amara's eyes stung. Three weeks of work, ruined in three seconds. Kofi tugged her sleeve. "You can fly mine with me," he offered. At first Amara shook her head. Then she looked at Kofi's hopeful face and took the string. Together they ran, and the little plastic kite shot up higher than any other kite in the sky. People pointed and cheered. That afternoon, the judges gave Kofi a ribbon for "Highest Flyer". Amara clapped louder than anyone. She realised she was smiling more than she would have if she had won the prize herself.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Kite Festival". What is the theme of the story?

    • A. Expensive kites always fly best.
    • B. You should never enter competitions.
    • C. Little brothers are annoying.
    • D. Sharing someone else's success can bring real happiness.

My Grandmother's Hands

My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went. "This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters." Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move. These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.

  1. Question 2

    Read "My Grandmother's Hands". What is the main message of the final paragraph?

    • A. The narrator is angry with her grandmother.
    • B. Old people should stop sewing.
    • C. Her hands are now useless.
    • D. Although she is growing weaker, her love and strength remain.

The Drone at the Marsh (a play)

CAST: NIA, a young volunteer · AMIR, her older cousin · MRS HOLT, the nature reserve warden SCENE: A wooden bird hide at the edge of a marsh. Early morning. (NIA peers through binoculars. AMIR carries a small drone and a controller.) AMIR: (cheerfully) Watch this, Nia. I'll fly it over the reeds and film the whole marsh. NIA: (lowering the binoculars) Wait! The terns are nesting out there. AMIR: It's only a little drone. They won't even notice. (MRS HOLT enters, holding a clipboard.) MRS HOLT: Morning, both. Is that a drone? AMIR: (proudly) It has a 4K camera. MRS HOLT: (gently) Birds may think a drone is a hawk. If the parents fly off their nests, the eggs can get cold. NIA: So filming them could hurt them. (AMIR looks at the drone, then at the marsh. A pause.) AMIR: (quietly) I didn't know that. Could I film the car park instead, and show people where the hide is? MRS HOLT: (smiling) That would be very helpful.

  1. Question 3

    Read "The Drone at the Marsh (a play)". What is the main message of the play?

    • A. Think about how your actions affect wildlife.
    • B. Birds do not need eggs.
    • C. New gadgets are always bad.
    • D. Never listen to older people.

  1. Question 4

    Nadia wanted to win the art prize so badly that she copied another girl's idea. She won, but every time she looked at the trophy, she felt sick inside. What is the theme?

    • A. Art is difficult.
    • B. Trophies are shiny.
    • C. Always enter competitions.
    • D. Winning dishonestly does not bring real happiness.

The Climbing Wall

The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn. The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready." The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble. "I want to come down," she called. "You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you." Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before. Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.

  1. Question 5

    Read "The Climbing Wall". Which theme best fits the story?

    • A. You should never take risks.
    • B. Climbing is too dangerous for children.
    • C. Staying calm and trusting support can help us overcome fear.
    • D. Older cousins are always better at sports.

The Margin

Zainab had read the library book three times before she noticed the handwriting. It was in the margin of page 112, so faint she had taken it for a smudge. In tiny, slanted letters, someone had written: "Don't trust the narrator." Underneath, in different ink and a rounder hand, someone else had replied: "Why not?" And beneath that, in the first writer's slant: "Read chapter 9 again." She read chapter 9 again. Then she read it a fourth time, and a fifth, and on the sixth she saw it – a single sentence where the narrator claimed to have been at home when, three chapters earlier, he had described himself on a train. A lie, hidden in plain sight. The whole story tilted, like a picture knocked crooked on a wall. Zainab sat back. She checked the date stamps on the card inside the front cover. The book had been borrowed forty-seven times since 1994. Somewhere among those forty-seven readers were two people who had held a conversation across years without ever meeting. She found a pencil. For a long time she hesitated over the page, feeling as if she were about to speak in a room full of strangers. Then, carefully, beneath the other two, she wrote: "Found it. Thank you." When she returned the book, the librarian frowned at the pencil marks. Zainab apologised. But as she walked home, she wondered who would be next to find them.

  1. Question 6

    Read "The Margin". Which theme does the story explore?

    • A. Library books should never be written in.
    • B. Librarians are unfriendly.
    • C. Reading can create connections between people across time.
    • D. Narrators always lie.

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Answer key: Theme

  1. 1. D. Sharing someone else's success can bring real happiness.

  2. 2. D. Although she is growing weaker, her love and strength remain.

  3. 3. A. Think about how your actions affect wildlife.

  4. 4. D. Winning dishonestly does not bring real happiness.

  5. 5. C. Staying calm and trusting support can help us overcome fear.

  6. 6. C. Reading can create connections between people across time.