Theme

For the past couple of days, students have been learning how to find theme. Please see the links below for the learning we did in class and note there will be an assessment on Friday on this skill.

Themes are NOT topics.

TOPIC EXAMPLES	THEME EXAMPLES
love	"Love can get someone through any trial."
family	"Family is the most important thing in life."
never give up	"Perseverance will help you reach your dreams."

These steps are used to find theme. Each student took notes on these steps and were given examples to write down. They can use their notes on the assessment!

1. Read the entire story. We cannot find theme without reading the story from beginning to end. Themes are repeated throughout the text, not found in one particular section.
   
   
2. Find the topic. "This story is mostly about..." or "The author is writing about..."
   Example: The author is writing about hard work.
    
3. Add "The author believes that..." before the topic.
   Example: The author believes that hard work.
    
4. This doesn't make sense! We need to expand the idea of the topic so that our sentence makes sense. Ask yourself: "What does the author want me to know or learn about the topic?"
   Example: What does the author want me to know or learn about hard work?
    
5. Complete the sentence, "The author believes that..." so that it makes sense.
   Example: The author believes that hard work helps us achieve our dreams.
   
   
6. Cross out "the author believes that" and you have your theme! 
   Example: The author believes that hard work helps us achieve our dreams.
   Theme: Hard work helps us achieve our dreams.

We used these short stories to find theme in small groups, and used these popular songs to practice finding evidence to support our ideas.

Students who want extra practice prior to the assessment can click here:

Theme Lesson & Practice

The rubric for this assessment is here.