Theme/ Tema

The Donkey, the Fox, and the Lion

The Donkey and the Fox, having established a partnership together for their mutual protection, went out into the forest to hunt. They had not advanced far when they met the Lion. The Fox, seeing the imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to secure the capture of the Donkey if the Lion promised not to harm the Fox. Then, assuring the Donkey that he would not be hurt, the Fox led him to a deep pit and arranged for him to fall into it. The Lion, seeing that the Donkey was secured, immediately caught the Fox and attacked the Donkey at his leisure.

• A. Be careful who you trust.

• B. Donkeys should not trust lions

• C. Promises are always broken

• D. Settle for little instead of being greedy

Tags

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.2

The boy and the hazelnuts

A BOY put his hand into a jar full of hazelnuts. He grabbed as many as he could, but when he tried to pull his hand out, the neck of the jar prevented him. Unwilling to lose his hazelnuts and unable to get his hand out, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment. A bystander told him: "Be content with half the amount and you will easily get your hand out".

• A. Hazelnuts are too tasty to resist

• B. Learn to be ingenious and you can have everything you want

• C. Be content with a little instead of being greedy

• D. Never give up on a goal

3. 3.The crow and the jar

A crow, half dead of thirst, found a jar that had been full of water; but when the crow put its beak into the mouth of the jar, it found that only a very little water was left in it, and that he could not get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the jar. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the jar. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the jar. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles, he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.

• A. Animals need water to survive

• B. Be content with what you have

• C. Never give up on a goal

• D. Look before you leap

The frogs and the well

4. Two frogs lived together in a swamp. But one hot summer, the swamp dried up and they went to look for another place to live: frogs like damp places if they can find them. After a while they came to a deep well, and one of them looked down and said to the other: "This seems like a cool and pleasant place. Let's jump in and settle here". But the other, who had a wiser head on her shoulders, replied: "Not so fast, my friend. Supposing this well dries up like the swamp, how would we get out again?"

• A. Be careful who you trust

• B. Frogs like damp places if they can find them

• C. You should always listen to your friends

• D. Look before you leap

What is the theme?

• Information provided on a topic expressed as a central idea

• A detail used to support a central idea in an informative text

• The theme is the message about life, the deeper meaning that the author wants to communicate to his audience

• A main idea that is often repeated in a text

To analyze the theme you need

• All answers are correct

• Compare the story with other similar stories and ask what is the moral or lesson I am learning about LIFE

• Look for clues of details in the story: characters, setting, plot that give evidence of the theme

• Look at the individual parts of a story to understand the whole story

ANALYZING a text means

• looking at a text at a deeper level trying to understand the author's purpose in communicating with his audience

• writing a book report and discussing every detail in the text

• providing an objective summary of the text

• emphasizing the importance of the topic

What is a recurring theme?

• An archetype

• A recurring theme is a moral or lesson about life that occurs frequently in different texts

• A motif

• A symbol

Type the name/title of a story you have read, and Write the THEME of the story

What is a THEME in My First Free Summer by Julia Alvarez?