Topic and Theme Review

What is the topic of the story?

Wendy enjoyed spending time with her grandmother. Her grandmother told her stories about what the world was like when she was a little girl, a very long time ago. Wendy also liked her grandmother's caramel cake and blackberry cobbler. There was only one problem. Wendy's grandmother always made casseroles for dinner. Wendy didn't want to hurt her grandmother's feelings. But she hated casseroles, and she couldn't help hesitating before taking a bite. But she did take a bite, because she loved the way that her grandmother's eyes lit up when she saw Wendy eating her home‐cooked food. When Wendy's grandmother smiled, suddenly the casserole didn't taste so bad.​

• Love
• Bravery

• Temptation

• Discovery

• Honesty

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

What is the topic of the story? ​

Ryan's mother was trying to learn to cook. She was not very good at it, though. One night she burned the casserole. Another night she scalded the soup. Ryan and his father did their best to eat what she put in front of them, though. "She will get better," Ryan's father told Ryan. "We have to encourage her so that she will not give up." One afternoon Ryan's mother put too much baking soda in the cookies and they were so bitter that Ryan had to spit a bite of cookie out into his napkin when his mother wasn't looking. "I am sorry that I am not a good cook," his mother told him. "That is okay," Ryan said. "The important thing is that you keep working on it, and then you will get better."

• Pride

• Power

• Perseverance
• Survival

• Fairness

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

What is the topic of the story?

Jimmy and Eric were huddled by the tire swing. "Why did Scott have to take the kickball? He knows we play kickball at recess." Jimmy whined. "Maybe we could just do something else." Eric suggested. "No, I'm going to get back our kickball," countered Jimmy. "Give us back our kickball, Scott!" Jimmy shouted. Scott looked up and down at Jimmy and then continued bouncing the ball. Jimmy ran up to Scott and tried to snatch the ball as it passed from the wall back to Scott, but he was too slow. He missed and fell onto the gravel and cried out, "Ow! See what you did, Scott!" By now Eric had joined the other two boys and he made a suggestion: "Hey, Scott, maybe we could all play together." Scott looked at him skeptically, but Eric's warm expression convinced him of his sincerity. "Ok," Scott muttered as he helped Jimmy back to his feet and asked, "What do you want to play?" The boys agreed on kickball and used the remaining recess time to play. Jimmy and Eric agreed that it was a lot more fun to play with three people and Scott became a regular addition to their recess activities

• Greed

• Good vs Evil

• Suffering

• Peace

• Kindness

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

What is the topic of the story?

Blaine opened up the present and began pouting. He screamed in a high-pitched voice, "This is Captain Thunder! I wanted Captain Lightning!" His mother looked at him with dismay and handed him another present, which he greedily opened. "Why did you get me a red hat? You know I like blue more," Blaine whined as he threw the hat across the room. His mother straightened her expression and squinted at him. Earlier she had hoped to take some pictures of this moment, but by now she had put away her camera. She sighed and handed him one more present in hopes that this year wouldn't be a total bust. Blaine huffed and opened it. "A Game Box 4000… wow. Where's the Game Box 5000 that I asked for?" His mother could bear his ingratitude no longer. The next time that Blaine returned from his father's house, he was shocked to find that all of these toys and gifts, along with many other of his things, had been generously donated to needy children.

• Self-Esteem

• Loneliness

• Gratitude
• Hope

• Friendship

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

What is the topic of the story?

Kim's diet was terrible. All she ate was chips and sweets and jelly sandwiches on white bread. She was overweight and she was always tired. When her doctor told her that she felt bad because of what she was eating, Kim was amazed. She didn't realize that she had so much power to make herself feel better. Kim stopped eating junk food and started eating fruits and vegetables. In a few weeks she felt like a new person.

• Fitting In

• Health

• Kindness

• Cooperation

• Temptation

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

What is the topic of the story?

Nicole was hesitant to lend Liz her tea set. Though the tea set was not worth much money, it had been in the family for a long time and was pretty much irreplaceable. But Liz was persistent and since they were dear friends, Nicole relented and agreed to lend her the tea set. As Nicole had feared, Liz did not handle the tea set with the same care as Nicole. Consequently Liz broke or damaged several of the pieces. When Nicole asked for her tea set, Liz stalled, "Uh... I forgot it at my cousin's house. I'll get it later this week. I'm so sorry." Liz figured that she could run to the store and replace the missing pieces. When she got around to doing so, Liz was disappointed to find that no stores carried the antique tea set. So Liz purchased a brand new tea set, much more expensive than the old set. She then threw out the rest of Nicole's old tea set to hide the evidence of her irresponsibility. When Liz presented Nicole with the new tea set, Nicole was extremely disappointed. Liz did not understand why. "Look, Nicole, my cousin lost your tea set. I mean, he's still looking for it but it's probably gone, but this tea set is much nicer." When Nicole did not accept the new tea set, Liz shook her head in disgust. Liz told herself, "Some people don't appreciate anything."

• Honesty

• Knowledge

• Wealth

• Youth

• Ambition

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

What is the topic of the story?

Dan was really looking forward to eating some cake. But when his mother sliced the cake, she made the pieces very small. "Why is my piece so small?" Dan asked, dismayed. "Because there are a lot of people here," his mother told him. "We have to make sure that we have enough cake for everybody. His mother continued to cut and serve the cake and soon there was no more cake left. Disappointed that he would not be able to have seconds, Dan went off to sit and eat his tiny piece of cake. There was a small girl sitting at his table. She looked longingly at Dan's cake. "I did not get any cake," she said. "By the time I got up there, all of the cake was gone." "Here," Dan said, handing the girl a fork. "I will share my cake with you." The little girl's face lit up, and suddenly Dan felt better.

• Honesty

• Health

• Gratitude
• Effort

• Generosity

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

What is the theme of the passage?

. It was Sean's first day at a new high school. Most of the students had been nice to him, until he got into gym class. The coach had assigned two captains, Mike and Malik, and they were picking teams from the boys in Sean's class. As Mike and Malik made their picks, it became pretty clear to Sean who was popular and who was not. Since Sean was short for his age, Mike and Malik just assumed that Sean could not play basketball. As Mike and Malik's choices dwindled, Sean still remained amongst an ever-slimming pool of struggling athletes. Now there were only two students left: Sean and another kid who seemed nice but was reading a book. Mike and Malik joked about who was going to get stuck with whom, and then Mike made his last pick. It was not Sean. Sean sighed and reluctantly joined Malik's team. As soon as the game began, Mike became aware of the error that he had made. Sean quickly stole the ball from him and ran it back for a layup. "The new kid got lucky," Mike remarked, but it soon became clear that Sean had more going for him than luck. What Sean lacked in height, he made up for in speed, and he continued to dominate the action on the court for the remainder of the game. With Sean's blazing speed and crazy crossovers, Malik's team devastated Mike's, and that was the only time that Sean would be last pick at that high school

• Beggars can't be choosers.

• Do not wait until a problem is out of control before you fix it.

• Appearances can be deceiving.

• Some things are not as easy as they seem.

• Cheaters never win.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

What is the theme of the passage?

"Mike, could you please fix the leak in the roof?" Katie asked her husband politely, but he was sick of what felt like his wife nagging him. "I'll get to it when I get to it," he replied brusquely. A small dripdrop of water collected in a cooking pot on the living room floor. The next time it rained, Katie had to use a large bucket. The leak was growing in size. "Mike, I really need you to patch the roof. It is getting worse," Katie warned her husband, but again he was in no mood to take direction. "Do I really need to keep saying this, Katie? I'm tired from working. I want to watch the game. I will patch the leak later," but Mike did not patch the leak and it continued expanding. A few weeks later a torrential rainstorm hit. The water poured through the roof. Some of it damaged the floor. But Mike didn't even seem to notice until the rain fell on his widescreen television.

• Beggars can't be choosers.

• Do not wait until a problem is out of control before you fix it.

• Appearances can be deceiving.

• Some things are not as easy as they seem.

• Cheaters never win.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

What is the theme of the passage?

Kristin had a good reputation. She was known as a bright student who made honor roll and did volunteer work in her community. Nikki and Simone had reputations too. They were known for causing trouble, fighting, and being dishonest. One day Kristin was walking to the store to get some healthy snacks when she bumped into Nikki and Simone. Much to Kristin's surprise, Nikki and Simone were being really nice to her. "How come we never hang out with Kristin? She cool," Simone said. Kristin had always quietly admired Nikki and Simone as girls who didn't take any stuff. So she enjoyed the compliments and the attention. Soon they were all walking into the little store together. The girls were playing around and having a good time while Kristin shopped. She picked out a few snacks and paid for her purchases, but on the way out the storeowner stopped them. "Let me see what you've got there, little lady," he said as he reached into Nikki's pocket. The storeowner pulled out several candy bars. "Now you," he said as he went into Simone's backpack and retrieved several bags of chips and packs of gum. He searched Kristin too, but didn't find anything. Kristin begged and pleaded with him as he called the police, "Please, sir, I'm a good girl." To which the man replied, "If you are such a good girl, then why are you hanging out with these two?" Kristin did not have a good answer for him.

• Cheaters never win.

• Don't let the details distract you from a bigger problem.

• Appearances can be deceiving.

• People will judge you based on the friends you hang out with.

• Working together pays off.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.4.9