Rochester College

Lesson Plan Template

8/27/15

Lesson Title
A Single Shard

Teacher Candidate Name

Kristin Miller

Date
10/12/15

Lesson Summary
Click here to enter text.

Subject Area
Language Arts
Grade Level
Fifth Grade
Higher Order Thinking Skills (Revised Blooms)
Students will analyze text details to determine a theme. Students will analyze the characters in A Single
Shard to determine how characters respond to challenges in the story line.
Approximate Time Needed for Lesson
Two class periods of forty-five minutes each
Common Core Standards and/or State of Michigan GLCEs and/or HSCEs
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how
characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem
reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
Student Objectives/Learning Outcomes
Students will determine the theme of a single shard. Students will support their thinking with details from
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parks.
Essential Question

Curriculum-Framing Questions
How does Tree-Ear respond to challenges in his relationship with Min? Why do
you think he responds this way? What theme is the story?

Unit Questions

How does one determine the theme of a story? What text clues does one
consider when trying to determine a theme? Why should we base our themes
from story content?

Content Questions

How does one determine a theme of a story?

Assessment Summary
I will assess the students description of their pottery. I will consider if the students refered back to text
details to support their theme. I will also grade their written summaries of the book to ensure that the
students read the material, and were able to write an appropriate summary.
I will also walk around the room during discussion and listen in on each group to ensure that students
dont have any misconceptions about the book or the importance of pottery in Min and Tree-Ears lives.

Lesson Timeline
Start of the Lesson
Students will begin by answering
questions and summarizing A
Single Shard in small groups.

Mid-Lesson Activities
Students will consider the theme
of the story, then represent that
theme through pottery, just like
Min represented things and
communicated through pottery.

End of Lesson Activities

Students will journal about how
the pottery activity helped them
understand the text better, and
how it helped them build
connections to the characters.

Prerequisite Skills
Students will have read through the first fifteen chapters of A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parks as
homework. Students will understand the theme of a story, and how to use text clues to support their
thinking.
Instructional Procedures
Students will be placed in small groups to examine the following questions about A Single Shard.
1. What is Tree-Ears relationship to Min?
2. Why does Tree-Ear continue to work for Min?
3. Do you think Tree-Ear will ever learn pottery?
4. How would you describe Tree-Ear? Why would you describe him in this way?
5. How would you describe Min? Why would you describe him in this way?
6. What do you notice about the way Tree-Ear and Min each respond to the vandalization of their
pottery? Why do you think they each responded this way?
7. Take two minutes and write a quick summary of the book thus far to share with your group.
Next, students will share their group answers with the entire class. Make sure students understand the
main points of the story: Tree-Ear is helping Min refine clay in order to make pottery. He continues to
work for Min because he desperately wants to learn how to make beautiful pots, even though he doesnt
know if he will get a chance to do so. Tree-Ear and Min responded in different ways to the pottery
vandalization, because pottery means something different to them both.
Have students think of a theme they think the story represents. Give them a ball of clay. The students
are to create a pot, just like Min makes, that represents the theme they chose. They can represent this
theme in any way they choose: through the shape of their pot, through painting their pot, through
engraving their pot using a toothpick, etc. This project will take the students two class periods. Once the
pots are done, have each student share with the class the theme they chose, why they chose it, and how
this theme is represented through their pottery, just like Min represented things through, and
communicated through his pottery.
Students will bring out their journals and answer the following questions:
1. Did you think representing a theme through pottery was hard? Why or why not?
2. How did working with pottery help you identify with Tree-Ear or Min?
3. Did working with pottery help you understand the importance of Mins work?
4. How did making your own pot help enrich your understanding of the story dynamics?
Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction
Instead of writing down a summary, this student will be allowed to
illustrate the main points of the story, or verbally tell me the story details.
Special Needs Student

Gifted/Talented Student

The Gifted/Talented student will make predictions about what will happen
next in the text. He/She will name a conflict he/she thinks will happen in
the story, then predict how Tree-Ear and Min will react to this conflict.
This student must support their predictions with information from the text.

Technology Hardware (Check off all equipment needed)

Camera
Laser Disk
Computer (s)
Printer
Digital Camera
Projection System
DVD Player
Scanner
Internet Connection
Television
Technology Software (Check off all software needed)
Database/Spreadsheet
Image Processing
Desktop Publishing
Internet Web Browser
E-mail Software
Multimedia
Encyclopedia on CD-ROM
Printed Materials
Supplies

VCR
Video Camera
Video Conferencing Equipment
Interactive Responders
Other - Click here to enter text.
Web Page Development
Word Processing
Smart notebook software
Other - Click here to enter text.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parks, paper, journals, pencils, one clay

ball for each student, paint, paintbrushes, and toothpics.

Internet Resources
Other Resources

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