Middle School Reading Comprehension Central Idea and Theme

What is theme?

• A lesson, moral, or message in a story

• what the text is mainly about

• how the author feels about the text

• What the reader knows about the text

What is the difference between theme and central idea?

• Central idea is what the text is mainly about and theme is the universal message in the story

• Theme is what the text is mainly about and central idea is the lesson or moral in the story

• Theme is specific to characters in the story and central idea is not

Which of the following is an example of THEME?

• Cereal is the healthiest food you can eat.

• You can severely break your leg while crossing the street.

• Life is short, so make the most of it.

• Carry your laptops with two hands at all times.

One way you could figure out the theme is to...

• Just read the beginning of the story

• Think about what the character has learned

• Read the ending of the story

• Only read one paragraph

What is central idea?

• theme and main idea are the same

• all of the elements of the plot

• the lesson or moral in the story

• what the text is mainly about

True or False? A theme is a summary of a story.

• false

• true

The theme of a piece of literature is the same as its ...

• subject

• significance

• message

• meaning

We often learn the theme of the story through how the character reacts to conflict. What is conflict?

• the problem in the story

• The beginning of the story

• how the problem is solved in the story

Unlike the topic of literature, a theme ...

• always shows the setting

• relies on the characters' speech/dialogue

• cannot be just one word

• can be expressed in one word

True or false. The theme of the text is always stated.

• True, authors tell you the lesson of the story.

• False, most stories do not have a theme

• False, the theme of the story is usually implied based on what characters experience