Understanding Themes and Topics

Which of the following COULD be a theme?

• Courage can lead to great things

• Courage

• I am courageous

• Weakness

Which of the following COULD be a topic?

• Love
• Love is important as we grow

• Love everyone

• Be kind to everyone you meet

Read the following sentence. Friendship helps people get through hard times. The sentence above is an example of:

• main idea

• character

• plot

• theme

A topic is---

• the message of the story

• a sentence

• one word

• the main conflict (problem)

What could be an example of a theme?

• How to bake chocolate chip cookies

• Helping others

• Friendship

• Being prepared often leads to success.

Theme is not the same thing as the ---- of a text.

• conflict

• characters

• topic

• setting

Themes are---

• specific to a story

• universal to all people

• just for adults

• specific to a character

Theme is --

• a message about rules

• a message about life

• the main idea

• the main plot points of the story

Which of the following COULD be a theme?

• Respect others differences.

• Courage

• I love to be a read.

• Kindness

To find a theme think...

• about the narrator + the characters + the setting

• about the main character + what's important about the character

• about the setting + the character + the plot

• about the big idea + what the author wants you to learn about that idea