Theme and Main Idea Review

Choose the main idea.

Susan’s jacket was her trademark. She wore it everywhere, and it was one of a kind. The jacket was styled like a men’s sport coat. It was made of green sharkskin with gold-and-black leopard-print lapels. The lining was made of the same fabric as the lapels. Sometimes leopard-print jackets can be expensive. Embroidered on the back of the jacket was a gold pyramid with a single eye on top, like the design on a dollar bill. Everyone knew Susan by her jacket.

• Susan's jacket was one-of-a-kind.

• Susan's jacket had a hood.

• Susan wore her jacket everywhere.

• Susan's jacket was ugly.

Computers have gotten much smaller and more useful over time. The first computer was very different from the computers we use today. First of all, it was much larger—the size of a whole room—and it did only mathematical computations. Some people like to do math in their heads. A computer correctly predicted that Eisenhower would win the 1952 election, even when opinion polls predicted a landslide victory for the other candidate. Computer usefulness grew to the point that Time magazine selected the computer as “Man of the Year” in 1982—although the author of the article wrote his piece on a typewriter.

What is the main idea?

• Computers have gotten much smaller and more useful over time.

• Computers have now been replaced by cellphones.

• Computers can only do math problems.

• Computers have become human, as they were in Time magazine.

What is this letter about?

Dear Mom,

I'm writing you from the fabulous city of Santiago. It's amazing to see the Andes Mountains covered in snow in June. I am so happy to be staying with the Alero family. Their house is on the outskirts of town, and it has a large yard where we can play outside on the days it isn't raining.

Outside my window I can see a beautiful persimmon tree. The persimmons look like orange balls hung all over the tree. I tried to eat a persimmon for dessert one night, but it made my tongue go numb! I don't think I'll try it again, but it was fun to taste something that I'd only read about in books. It's not too cold here yet, but we've had a lot of rain.

I can't wait to see you again when I get home. I hope your summer is warm and sunny!

• She is lonely and wants to come home.

• She is telling her mom about her visit in Santiago.

• She wants her mom to come visit the Alero family.

• She is giving an opinion about Santiago.

My friend Randolph plays in the school band with me and he is a lot of fun to have in class. He distracts me from playing sometimes and makes our teacher, Mr. Antonio, get angry with us. But he makes me look forward to band rehearsal, which is not an easy thing to do at all.

Randolph and Mr. Antonio don't get along very well because of Randolph's antics. Just yesterday, Tammy, the girl that plays trumpet with me and Randolph, was being noisy in class. Instead of blaming Tammy for distracting the class, he kept scolding my friend. I didn't think it was very fair, and neither did Randolph.

What would be a good title for this passage?

• Randolph the Wise

• Band Rehearsal

• Tammy and her Trumpet

• My Friend Randolph

What is Theme?

• The main idea of the story

• The pattern of a book

• The classification or category a book falls under, based on the content of it's text

• The moral or lesson an author wants you to learn from reading a story.

What question can we ask ourselves which will help us identify the theme of a story?

• How did the character(s) grow, or change, during the story?

• What is the story mainly about?

• What genre is this book?

• What are the sequence of events?

How can we prove the theme in a story?

• By giving a character analysis

• Using accurate quotes from the text and explaining how the quote reveals the theme

• Inferencing

• Telling the main idea

Together in class we read a book called, The Royal Mystery, and discussed the theme of this text. What was the theme of The Royal Mystery?

Everyone knows the story of the 3 Little Pigs. What would a good theme be for the story, The 3 Little Pigs?

What is the text structure that uses this graphic organizer?

• Main idea and key detail

• Cause and Effect

• Sequential

• Problem and Solution

• Compare and Contrast