We had a sub today!
The book you will be reading out of, Squids Will Be Squids, is on my desk (the one without the computer). It would be fun if you could paraphrase the following lesson plan in your own words, but if you are not feeling creative, you can pretty much follow this word for word.
1. Attention Grabber: Have you ever come across any kinds of bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim bulb people? Have YOU ever been a bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim bulb sort of person? Have you ever done anything really silly but then found that it was okay because you learned an important lesson?
Well, long ago, a man named Aesop met a whole bunch of bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim bulb people, and he wanted to do something about it. He decided to write stories about these people, and end each story with a lesson we all can learn from bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim bulb people. But he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so he changed the names to protect the not-so-innocent. Actually, he didn’t just change names; he changed the people . . . into animals! That’s what fables are—stories with animals instead of people as the main characters. Fables also have a lesson at the end call the moral of the story. And fables are really short, like a joke . . . usually only one page or less.
Today we’re going to write some fables—lessons we’ve learned as we’ve traveled through life. And we’re going to add a moral to the end of our stories. First though, I’d like to share two fables written by two famous writers named Jon Scieszka (rhymes with Fresca) and Lane Smith. These are names you might remember from their other famous books, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales! and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
Just to give you a little background on the whole fable thing . . . this is the introduction for Squids Will Be Squids. (Read the introduction aloud; it is marked with a blue tab.) These are examples of fables:
2. Read “Grasshopper Logic” (green tab) and “Frog’s New Shoes” (yellow tab) to the students.
3. Feedback Time: Have students answer the following questions:
• What are the parts of a fable?
• What is a moral?
• Who are the characters in a fable?
• How long is a fable?
4. Pass out the lists of morals that are under the book on my desk. Please make sure that the students know that these are classroom sets-so they need to just leave them on their desks when they are done.
5. Directions for Writing Activity: Have everyone pull out a lined piece of paper and say “Now let’s talk about how to come up with ideas for our own fables. You can follow these steps:”
• Choose a moral from those written these papers OR think about some really bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim bulb people who learned an important lesson.
• Then think about a story that illustrates what they did that was silly like in “Grasshopper Logic” and “Frog’s New Shoes.”
• Next, think about the lesson they learned: That’s the moral of the fable.
• Last, make these people into silly animals representing people.
• There’s your fable!
6. Tell the students to get all the above thoughts on their paper and then they can make it into a fable.
7. To give them a little more inspiration, read them “Straw & Matches” while they work (red tag).
8. Have students begin writing. They may work in pairs or singly, but each person needs to hand in a fable, i.e., if they work as a pair, they need to create two fables. Go around and give help to any people who are confused. If they can’t think of anything to write about, encourage them to consider some of their favorite fairytales and “bend” them a little.
9. When there is about ten or so minutes left of class (i.e. around 2:43 and 3:43), call the students back to attention and read the very serious after word from the book (orange tag).
10. Then invite students to come up and share their fables with the class. Hopefully you will have a few takers.☺
11. Tell the students that they need to give you their fable before they leave class today. Take their fables and clip them together with a binder clip and leave them on my desk.
12. Please gather up my moral lists and leave them clipped together on my desk after seventh period.
13. Students are dismissed when the bell rings, not before. Just leave all the materials on my desk for me.
