Theme = the message of a story
A common, but effective, way to remember that THEME is the MESSAGE the author is trying to convey.
We have been reviewing and working on theme this last week.
In our thoughtful logs, we added some inserts to help us understand this learning skill. They are a great reminder that theme can be either stated or implied in a story. The little books did take quite a while to put together but they turned out so cute that it was worth it!
A common, but effective, way to remember that THEME is the MESSAGE the author is trying to convey.
We have been reviewing and working on theme this last week.
In our thoughtful logs, we added some inserts to help us understand this learning skill. They are a great reminder that theme can be either stated or implied in a story. The little books did take quite a while to put together but they turned out so cute that it was worth it!
We have been working on figuring out different themes in our read alouds, independent reading, and in the world all around us (INSERT WALT DISNEY CONNECTIONS! *squeal*)
Theme can often be a confusing and complicated concept for students so I also tried to take a more abstract concept and making it clearer in a kinesthetic/real world sort of way.
Using music is a great way to break down a more abstract concept, so we tried it with THEME. We listened to some common older and newer songs that had STATED (obvious - usually stated clearly in the chorus) and IMPLIED (much harder to find, clues are discovered in the verses).
Theme can often be a confusing and complicated concept for students so I also tried to take a more abstract concept and making it clearer in a kinesthetic/real world sort of way.
Using music is a great way to break down a more abstract concept, so we tried it with THEME. We listened to some common older and newer songs that had STATED (obvious - usually stated clearly in the chorus) and IMPLIED (much harder to find, clues are discovered in the verses).
We also worked on identifying themes within short stories and looking for the clues that authors give us both implied and stated in their text.
Sadly, I was unable to upload the FABULOUS video of Kaleb singing/dancing along to Michael Jackson's "Man In the Mirror" but know, it made for an EPIC reading lesson :0)