teach. - Festival of Trees: An ELA Project on Theme

A few weeks ago I was home putting up our Christmas tree and completing chores around the house when I started thinking about people who decorate their tree with themes. A few years back we went to a Christmas party and the host had at least four different Christmas trees. Each tree had a theme. There was an Elvis tree, a Marilyn Monroe tree, a Santa tree, and several others. These thoughts led my brain to people who go to holiday fairs and tree festivals. Those thoughts led me to, "How cool would it be if my students could decorate trees using books as the theme?" So, I picked up my phone, texted my fellow ELA co-worker, threw out the idea, and the rest is history. Fifth graders at Palmetto Elementary were going to create trees for the fifth grade Festival of Trees. And, it just so happened we started our theme unit the week we returned from Thanksgiving break.

Here's what we did.

I'm all about integrating standards and figuring out ways to weave standards together. In my opinion, it doesn't make sense (nor is it efficient) to teach standards in isolation. When standards are taught in isolation, students have a more difficult time seeing how skills build and intertwine. After all, when authors write books, they have to think of the story as a whole. The setting, characters, conflicts, morals, and so on have to develop together or in unison for it all to make sense. Every book starts with an idea and everything else revolves around that. So, why not teach it that way? I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, but it makes sense to me. Anyway, let's move on.

As I was researching the best way to teach theme, I found numerous reputable websites suggesting students needed to have a strong concept of story elements (characters, setting, plot). The reason being is students should synthesize that information in order to reach an overall message. Another suggestion was to teach students the difference between main idea and theme. The main idea is what the story is mostly about versus theme is the moral/lesson/message the author wants to convey. So, that's where I started and what made me happiest is it gave me an opportunity to spiral back to story elements and dig even deeper.

So, week one looked a little like this.

Day one I reviewed story elements and created an anchor chart (pictured below - I found it on Pinterest). I discussed the difference between theme and main idea and explained how understanding the plot would help them not only state the main idea but also the theme. The first day I kept it simple. I showed them the Pixar short film, Knick Knack. It was less than four minutes long, silly, and had a clear storyline. When it was over, the students told me what the film was mostly about in one sentence for the main idea. Then, I asked them, "What do you think the snowman learned after going through all of those obstacles trying to get what he wanted?" And, guess what, the kids were right on target.

Day two I did a read aloud of A Day's Work. And, I basically repeated the lesson from Monday and added to the anchor chart.

Day three the students were given a main idea/theme sort. The cards had main ideas of stories and themes that went along with each main idea. Students had to determine which cards were main ideas and which ones were themes. Then, they had to match the main idea card to the theme card that made the most sense for that main idea.

Day four I introduced a new anchor chart and took things a step further. There were four columns: title, main idea, conflict, theme. We reviewed Knick Knack and discussed the snowman's conflict and added it to the chart. Then, we reviewed A Day's Work and discussed the character's conflict and added it to the chart. Last, I read aloud The Giving Tree, and we dug deep! The kids identified the main idea, conflict, and some really amazing themes for that book.

On day five I taught a lesson my co-worker had stumbled upon at Teaching with Blonde Ambition. I absolutely LOVE using music to teach ELA, and this lesson is fabulous and engaging.

Week two looked like this.

Day one I introduced the Festival of Trees project. I went over my expectations for the project, the assignments, the timeline of due dates, and the rubric. I handed out graphic organizers the students would need to complete in order to help them stay organized. Then, students started choosing books they wanted to complete their project on.

Day two I read aloud Salt in His Shoes and as a class completed the anchor chart pictured below. Students had to identify character traits for Michael Jordan, summarize the book using Someone Wanted But So Then Finally, complete a plot diagram, determine a theme, and then analyze and determine the parts of the plot that conveyed the theme. The goal was for the students to determine parts of the plot on their own with very little guidance from me since it was a skill I had already taught.

Day three I had a district meeting, so my students had a substitute. I left a quiz for them to complete. They had to read Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes independently and complete this graphic organizer for the story. They did a great job.

Day four I reviewed the graphic organizer they completed the day before, and we discussed grades for those quizzes. I read aloud The Invisible Boy and students independently completed a plot diagram and a theme handout on Showbie.

Day five I conferenced with students about the graphic organizers they had been working on for their projects. They had been working on these during independent reading time throughout the week. Mainly, I checked over their work to make sure they demonstrated a clear understanding of the plot and were able to determine a theme and support it. Of course, we also discussed complete sentences, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Week three went like this.

Day one students started taking information from their graphic organizers and transferring the information to index cards. Students had seven index cards: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, summary, theme. On these cards, students had to write exactly what they needed for their tree ornaments. This helped organize their work and gave me another opportunity to glance at their written work before transferring it to their ornaments.

Day two students were given lined paper ornaments to transfer their revised and edited work onto. I allowed students to write their summaries on index cards as well as their theme explanation (this card contained evidence from the plot that supported the theme they came up with for the book). A few students chose to do selfie videos of their summary, uploaded it to our class Seesaw account, and I printed out QR codes for them to put on their tree. Students wrote the theme on their tree topper.

Day three students were given the entire block to decorate their tree and make it pretty.

Day four was the big day! It was presentation day. We had invited parents, the entire school, and district office staff. My mother-in-law came by to support students whose parents weren't able to come. Family and friends donated money, hot cocoa packets, apple cider packets, and candy canes. As parents entered our hallway, we had student representatives fixing them cups of hot cocoa or apple cider to sip as they walked through our Festival of Trees. Just after the refreshment table and at the entrance of the fifth-grade hallway, student representatives shook visitors' hands, made eye contact, and welcomed guests to our event. As students showed off their work, they also explained their book and what all was involved in putting the tree together. Students blew me away with the academic language they were using. They soared far beyond my expectations. Pride filled their hearts and faces as they presented their work.

Simply said the students showed out!!

The hours I spent burning my fingertips with hot glue putting these trees together was so worth it. Was it a TON of work? Yes. Did it stress me out? OH, MY GOODNESS YES! But, in the end, was it worth it? HOLY MOLY! YES! YES! YES!

So, what did we do on Friday after the Festival...celebrated! They got to open Christmas gifts from me. They got to attend a Christmas program. They got to have the silly string fight they earned. They got extra recess and convinced me to play chase with them. They got to watch Christmas movies and eat junk food. No, I didn't teach academics on Friday. But, I made sure they knew how proud I was of their hard work and how much I loved them.