4 Steps to

understanding

Theme
By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit
 Teacher Tips:
Refresh your memory on what THEME really is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H6GCe7hmmA
Teaching Theme
To find the theme you have to use inferencing. Inferencing is: 1. What you
already know from your own experiences and 2. Clues from the text/picture
[I saw you guys coming inside today with coats and hats on so I
inferred that it was cold outside. I wasn't outside when you were so I
can't say for sure, but this is a pretty good inference because (1) It was
chilly when I came in to school about an hour before you guys and (2) I know
people wear warm clothes when it is cold out

You remember that a story doesn't just tell us what the message or theme is;
we need to use our good inferencing skills to find it. Remember that we also
talked about how the theme is really THE MESSAGE.

Steps to find a good theme EVERY time!:

1. Complete a common text together. This can be a novel, short
story, paragraph or picture book.
2. List as many topics as possible that have to do with the
text. DO this for the first time together.
3. Choose a topic and write a sentence about this topic using
the stem The author believes that and making sure to
USE the term you chose in the sentence. Highlight the term/
topic you chose to reiterate the importance of it use in the
sentence.
4. Cross out the question stem The Author believes that.
5. Congratulations! You have a theme!!! Reword if necessary
to make sense.
6. You can alternately use the stem I have learned in place
of the author believed, especially for young children.

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 Theme: Bounding Theme
1. Brainstorm some possible topics of the short
movie. What happened in the movie? What was
important. List at least 4 possible topics. Pennants
2. Choose a topic and circle it. Fill in the
blanks of the sentence. You MUST use the _______ ______
word you circled.

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

The author of this movie believes that ________________
______________________ that it makes sense.
rewrite the part of the sentence you added so
______________________ 3. Cross out the author believes that and

3. Cross out the author believes that and ______________________

rewrite the part of the sentence you added so
that it makes sense. ______________________

________________ The author of this movie believes that

word you circled.

______ _______ blanks of the sentence. You MUST use the
2. Choose a topic and circle it. Fill in the

important. List at least 4 possible topics.

movie. What happened in the movie? What was
1. Brainstorm some possible topics of the short

Theme: Bounding
 Theme introduction Notes
Pixar video Short: Bounding
Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WyR4AqRweY (Pixar Short:
Bounding) and complete Theme Pennants together.
The pennants will take the children through the step by step process. This
activity is also good for partners.
Review/ Reinforce the concept of theme using the Theme notes page.
Teacher Notes Version: Theme is the main message of the story. Theme is a
broad idea that can be applied to life, and in most stories the theme is not
stated. Instead it must be inferred by the reader. Kids (and adults) frequently
confuse the theme with the plot or the main idea. For example, in Charlottes
Web the main idea or a summary of the plot could be: Charlotte saves
Wilburs life by writing words in her web. However that is not the message of
the book. It is not a broad idea, and it cant be applied to everyday life.
Contrast that with: Good friends are always there for each other.

Theme: Wizard of Oz pages

Have students work independently or in pairs to complete these pages.
Answers will vary.

Practice with longer passages

Selection 1: The Pigeon Express
Answers: 1. They were trained 2. B 3. B

Selection 2: A Merry Christmas

Answers: 1. cream and muffins, 2. The children had blue lips and purple
hands because they were very cold. 3. This statement means that the act of
giving gave the girls more happiness than a nice breakfast would have.

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 Theme: Notes
Theme is the main _______________ of the story.

Theme is a broad ________ that can be applied to life, and

in most stories the theme is not stated.

Instead it must be __________ by the reader.

Kids (and adults) frequently confuse the theme with the plot or
the _________________.

For example, in Charlottes Web the main idea or a summary of the

plot could be: Charlotte ________ Wilburs ________ by
writing words in her web.

However that is not the message of the book. It is not a broad

idea, and it cant be applied to everyday life. The theme could be:
Good friends are always there for each other.

Theme: Notes
Theme is the main _______________ of the story.

Theme is a broad ________ that can be applied to life, and

in most stories the theme is not stated.

Instead it must be __________ by the reader.

Kids (and adults) frequently confuse the theme with the plot or
the _________________.

For example, in Charlottes Web the main idea or a summary of the

plot could be: Charlotte ________ Wilburs ________ by
writing words in her web.

However that is not the message of the book. It is not a broad

idea, and it cant be applied to everyday life. The theme could be:
Good friends are always there for each other.
By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit
 Name: ______________________

Theme
Discussion:
Start with deciding on the topic of a book or story. What
is the book generally about?
Think about theme as taking a TOPIC from a book or
story and telling what you have LEARNED about that
topic.
Guided Practice

The Wizard of Oz

What is the topic of Wizard of Oz? What is the main character

in the story trying to do?

Topic: Home/ Traveling home

What have did you learn about home and how Dorothy felt about
home in this story? (keep it short)

I have learned _________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________..
Now, rewrite that sentence without the I have learned part.

You DID it! That is

the theme. It does
not have to be
exactly like
everyone elses if
you can defend it!

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 Name: ______________________

Theme Extension: Defending your theme.

Wizard of Oz
Think of your theme as an bucket for your book, collecting all the little drops of proof
throughout the book. Think back about the Wizard of Oz. Try to remember all the times
when home was important to the characters. Write these moments in the rain drops. You
may cut the bucket and rain drops out and glue them into your reading notebook.

m
Home is where
the heart is

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 Familiar Story Theme Quick Look
Complete each of the 4 steps for finding the theme for each passage.
Remember:
1. List as many topics as possible that have to do with the text. Circle the topic
youd like to work with.

2. Write a sentence about this topic using the stem The author believes that
and making sure to USE the term you chose in the sentence.

3. Cross out the question stem The Author believes that.

4. Congratulations! You have a theme!!! Reword if necessary to make sense

Two best friends are asked to work together to complete a project.

One girl decides to cheat. Her friend works to show her why
cheating is wrong, and that lying and cheating are never the right
way!

Theme: ________________________
A little girl wanders into an uninhabited house, eats all the food,
breaks a chair, and sleeps in all of the beds. The owners come home
and she admits all she did, offering to pay to replace the items she
damaged.

Theme: ________________________
While on a mission to save the world, the super hero realizes that if
he enlists the help of the other super heroes, they will better be
able to defeat the menacing bad villain.

Theme: ________________________
A young mouse is sent to live in the attic of the castle as punishment
for his crimes against the mouse kingdom. While there, he realizes that
only he can make things right and decides that he must change his
ways before he reenters the mouse kingdom.

Theme: ________________________
By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit
 m
Name: ______________________

Theme

Practice with longer passages

Use the 4 steps to finding theme on this passage. Show your

thinking for each step below.

Theme:

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 1. What makes carrier pigeons special?

2. Reread paragraph 3. What is the best explanation of the main idea of this
paragraph?

a. My Uncles sister thinks he is silly.

b. My Uncle wrote many notes just to be able to use his pigeons.

c. His sister lives far away, on the south side.

3. Reread paragraph 6 and 7. Which answer best describes the solution to the
problem in this selection?

a. My Uncle wrote a note.

b. My Uncle used his pigeons to communicate.

c. My Aunt wrote my Uncle back with a pigeon

4. Choose ONE writing prompt. Circle it. Write a three to five sentence paragraph
answer.

A. If your electricity went out what would you use to communicate with your
friends and family?

B. The carrier pigeons were replaced by telephones. What is another practice that
has been replaced by technology?

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 m
Name: ______________________

Theme
Practice with longer passages
A Merry Christmas
by Louisa May Alcott from Little Women
Little Women is about Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March. They are fours sisters growing up
during the Civil War. Their father is a chaplain with the Union Army, and the family does not
have much money. In this passage, Mrs. March has just returned home. The girls have
been waiting for their mother to come home so they could have a Christmas breakfast.
Hannah is the cook and maid for the family.

"Merry Christmas, little daughters! But I want to say one word before we sit down. Not far
away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled
into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire. There is nothing to eat over
there, and the oldest boy came to tell me they were suffering hunger and cold. My girls,
will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?"

They were all unusually hungry, having waited nearly an hour, and for a minute no one
spoke, only a minute, for Jo exclaimed impetuously, "I'm so glad you came before we
began!"

"May I go and help carry the things to the poor little children?" asked Beth eagerly.

"I shall take the cream and the muffins," added Amy, heroically giving up the article she
most liked.

Meg was already covering the buckwheats, and piling the bread into one big plate.

"I thought you'd do it," said Mrs. March, smiling as if satisfied. "You shall all go and help me,
and when we come back we will have bread and milk for breakfast, and make it up at
dinnertime."

They were soon ready, and the procession set out. Fortunately it was early, and they went
through back streets, so few people saw them, and no one laughed at the strange party.

A poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a
sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old
quilt, trying to keep warm.

How the big eyes stared and the blue lips smiled as the girls went in.

"Ach, mein Gott! It is good angels come to us!" said the poor woman, crying for joy.

"Funny angels in hoods and mittens," said Jo, and set them to laughing.

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 m Theme

In a few minutes it really did seem as if kind spirits had been at work there. Hannah,
who had carried wood, made a fire, and stopped up the broken panes with old hats
and her own cloak. Mrs. March gave the mother tea and gruel, and comforted her
with promises of help, while she dressed the little baby as tenderly as if it had been her
own. The girls meantime spread the table, set the children round the fire, and fed them
like so many hungry birds, laughing, talking, and trying to understand the funny broken
English.

"Das ist gut!" "Die Engel-kinder!" cried the poor things as they ate and warmed their
purple hands at the comfortable blaze. The girls had never been called angel children
before, and thought it very agreeable. That was a very happy breakfast, though they
didn't get any of it. And when they went away, leaving comfort behind, I think there
were not in all the city four merrier people than the hungry little girls who gave away
their breakfasts and contented themselves with bread and milk on Christmas morning.

"That's loving our neighbor better than ourselves, and I like it," said Meg, as they set out
their presents while their mother was upstairs collecting clothes for the poor Hummels.

Use the 4 steps to finding theme on this passage. Show your thinking
for each step below.

Theme:
1. What are two of the breakfast items the girls gave to the Hummel family?

2. The text speaks of blue lips and purple hands. Why were the lips and
hands these colors?

3. Explain what the author means when she says, there were not in all the city
four merrier people than the hungry little girls who gave away their breakfasts.

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit

 Credits

The Reading Vine

By Jennifer Oliver @ Learnin Lit