We've been exploring the themes of stories- through our "just right books", read alouds, as well as the stories we enjoy together in reading class (whole and small group).
For theme, I've been stressing that there are both major themes (the main 1-2 lessons or messages the author wants you to understand), as well as minor themes (little lessons/messages learned throughout the way). We came up with a common definition of theme (lesson learned/message) and why an author includes a theme (so a reader learns a lesson or feels inspired from a story).
We started off using some common fairy tales/everyday stories that the kids know. I would share the title and we'd brainstorm both main and minor themes from the story. I also started to stress theme during our read aloud time.
In small group (you could use whole group too), the students completed the "Discovering Theme" graphic organizer. This required them to find the themes and give evidence to support their ideas. We did this for a couple of stories, first together, then with a partner, then alone.
From there, I put a tub of children's books out with a common theme. I didn't have time to read each of them, so I chose books that dealt with Black History Month (Civil Rights Movement and Slavery). Throughout their independent work time, students had to read a children's book with a partner and list the main 1-2 themes from the story. This was on-going, lasting about 6-7 days. Each day, they completed a graphic organizer.
When the 6-7 days were up, I had them work with a partner to find the common theme of all the books they read (this was hard, some found it in all the books, others only used 3-4 books to find their theme). I let them use the "Possible Themes in Stories" sheet for help. Then, together as a class, we came up with the common themes from the stories (because I chose a topic that was similar, this worked as most books dealt with equality and fighting for rights).
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