Duck Dynasty & Theme

Seriously, who doesn't love the show Duck Dynasty on A&E?  Well, if you aren't from the south, you might not understand it.  If you are from the south, chances are you have an Uncle Si in your family too!

Anyway, all my students LOVE that show and they wear all the Duck Dynasty t-shirts and hats. I try my best to plan lessons around things that my students like or currently into.

The objective for the week was theme.  You know, a lesson or message the author wants us to get from the text.  Well, I was trying to think about some way to introduce theme that would catch the kids attention and get them excited.  I was watching the latest episode of Duck Dynasty when the idea hit me.  If you watch the show, then you know they end each episode with a little explanation of a lesson to be learned.  So, I started searching YouTube for small clips of the show that taught a lesson.  This is what I came up with...

Afterwards, I asked the kids to tell me what was the lesson Phil was trying to teach his grandkids. The majority of them got the idea that working hard and appreciating what you have was the message.  Next, I defined theme and asked them to think about books they've read in the past that included a message or lesson. We complied our thinking into an anchor chart...

Yes, I realize now that I misspelled perseverance...oops!

Afterwards, we started using pictures books to identify the theme of the book, but the students were required to support their answer with evidence from the text.  Here are a few books we used to teach theme...

 

Hopefully it won't be too between blog posts!  It's been super busy!  Until next time...