Ready-to-teach lesson
TumbleTA | REGIONAL STANDARDS EDITION
A Light in the Darkness - What Willie's Actions
Reveal
Maine | Grade 4
TEACHES
RL.4.1
CURRENT FRAMEWORK
Maine Learning Results — English Language Arts
STANDARD
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
WHY THIS FROZEN LESSON EARNS TEACHES
Students infer Willie's unstated plan and support the inference with two distinct details from the text.
INTEGRITY RULE
The regional standard is additive. The two lesson pages that follow are the frozen V5 lesson and have not been rewritten to obtain this standards match.
Standards-first production package | final 60-region audit | September 9, 2026 TumbleTA · Standards-First Short Lesson · Grade 4
A Light in the Darkness What Willie's Actions Reveal
20 MINUTES
TARGET
Make a logical inference from relevant details and evidence in a literary text.
STUDENT PRODUCT
One inference about Willie’s plan + two fixed pieces of evidence + explanation.
LESSON SEQUENCE
- 1.Stop at the second night Read to 'Until it happened again the next night.' Before Willie’s plan is
explicit, students write what they think he is trying to make happen on Willow Crescent.
- 2.Evidence: what he says about himself Use one statement Willie makes about himself as
Evidence 1. Students explain what it suggests about the kind of action he is willing to take.
- 3.Evidence: the menorahs Use Willie going door to door / showing the menorahs rather than
explaining the plan as Evidence 2.
- 4.Inference Students finish: Willie’s plan is to ___; the statement about himself and the repeated
menorah action show this because ___.
ASSESSMENT · LOOK FOR
- Makes the inference before the plan is fully explained.
- Uses one statement plus the repeated menorah action.
- Explains how both details support the same plan.
Standards-first rule: freeze the lesson after QA. Add a regional code only when the complete local expectation is actually satisfied.
TumbleTA · Student Evidence · Grade 4
page 1
A Light in the Darkness
What Willie's Actions Reveal
Name ________________________________ Date __________________ My inference at 'Until it happened again the next night.'
Evidence 1 — one thing Willie says about himself
Evidence 2 — Willie goes door to door / shows the menorahs
Together, these details show Willie plans to...
This student page is part of the frozen standards-first lesson. Complete the evidence shown here; do not substitute a different task to fit a standard.
page 2