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Lesson Plan: Fable Moral- The Ant and Grasshopper

Subject:  ELA- Reading

Grade: 3

Lesson Objective: To identify the moral of a fable

Common Core Standard:  CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2- Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

Materials:

Starter:

Say:

  • Has anyone ever told you a story that had a lesson at the end of it?  What was the story?  (Allow the students to answer.)

Main:

Say:

  • There are some stories that have lessons at the end of them.  Those stories are called fables. 
  • A fable is a story that has animals as the characters.  The lesson at the end of a fable is called the moral.  The moral of the story teaches you something about how you should act or shows you a different way to think about something.
  • One fable that most people have heard of is called The Tortoise and The Hare.  The animals race each other and the hare is so far ahead that he takes a nap.  The tortoise keeps going and wins the race even though the hare is faster.  The moral of the story is, “slow and steady wins the race.”
  • The story teaches us to keep trying and doing what we set out to do, even if it seems like there are people who may be faster or better than you are.  If you keep going, you will finish.
  • Another fable is about a lion and a mouse.  The mouse saves the lion’s life by chewing a net and setting it free.  The moral of that story is, “little friends may become great friends.”  That fable teaches us not look at how someone looks, but at what they can do and how they help you.
  • You are now going to read the fable “The Ants and the Grasshopper.”  While you are reading, I want you to think about what the moral or lesson at the end of the fable is.
  • You should think about what parts of the story helped you to figure out the moral. 
  • Then, you will write the answer the questions that are below the story.
  • Does anyone have any questions?

Feedback:

Say:

  • Who would like to share their answers?  (Allow the students to share and go over the answers and where they came from.)

Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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