This module has been written with the intent of implementation beginning second nine weeks of school year. This module has been created with five purposes in mind:
1. Develop students' ability to identify theme in Greek myths.
2. Deepen students' ability of using information from text to support their chosen theme/underlying message.
3. Deepen students' ability to summarize a text.
4. Deepen student's ability to demonstrate their learning through learning how to write an informational article.
5. Address ELA grade level specific standards.
During this module students will focus on RL4.2., determine theme of a story from details in the text. Students
will summarize the text to enhance their comprehension and enhance their ability to explain to others information they have obtained. It should be noted that prior to this module students have had some experience with finding theme in dramas and poems. Students will be encouraged to use their existing knowledge base as they dig deeper into this module. RL.4 will be taught by reading several Greek myths including but not limited to the following: King Midas and the Golden Touch, Pandora's Box, The Trojan Horse, Medusa and Athena, The Twelve Laborers of Hercules, and Achilles Heel. There are several more that I use, but these are the main ones. (Finding Greek Myths for 4th grade students has been a task. The Greek Myths that I have listed came from the site, Teachers Pay Teachers- Greek Mythology by Nicole Shelby. It should be noted, that many of these Greek Myths I used can also be used to help teach RL 4.4.) RL4.2 will be intentionally taught in the related readings, discussed, and practiced throughout this module. Incorporated with theme is deepening students understanding of summarizing what they have read. Students will be taught the acronym "Somebody Wanted to But So" to help them focus on the main parts of the text to be summarized. Students will have ample time to practice this during whole class demonstration and discussion, small table group discussions and independent time. Students will be taught to use highlighters in their reading to identify the part of the story that helps identify the theme. This skill will be utilized through demonstration, practiced throughout the module. A post assessment will be given at the end of the module prior to the writing piece to demonstrate students understanding.
After pre-writing using a graphic organizer and discussing with peers, students will write an informational article demonstrating their understanding of theme, text that supports the theme, and summarizing by writing this information in an article for a specific audience. The article will be scored using the scoring rubric attached.
