Digital Identifying Theme Lesson - Reading Detectives

This is a no-prep reading detectives digital lesson that aims at students learning how to identify the theme of a story. Student's will be identifying and describing the theme of short stories and a known story (Cinderella). They will gain a deeper understanding of common themes and big ideas.

• This product includes 2 resources. The first resource is a mini lesson on theme. You can use this portion to teach how to identify themes of stories, you can display it while teaching online or on your big screen in the classroom. (31 slides)
• The second resource is a student practice packet, it include theme activities and extends student learning. Students will have the opportunity to practice identifying theme and writing their own short story or message that conveys a theme (14 pages)

How to Use this Product:

• This product can be posted on your google classroom or emailed to your students. They can download their own copy to complete as an assignment or to have their own copy while you are teaching it. You can also display it on your desktop when teaching on google classroom.
• If you want to send individual copies to each student on google classroom, you upload it as an assignment, select the bubble that says send a copy to each student, and you will be able to see that students have completed the slides. If you want to only sent the student practice packet as an assignment just click the folder that you received when purchasing, and select the student practice packet.

When Purchasing:

• When purchasing, you will receive a google slides version. It will contain a folder that is called "theme". The product has editable text boxes for you or your students to write into.
• It can also be downloaded as a Powerpoint version if desired. If you would like to download as a PDF version, click file in the top right corner, and scroll down to download then select PDF version.
• You can use this product for at-home learning OR in the classroom. If you want to use it in the classroom you can download your copy as a pdf or powerpoint. If you download as a powerpoint you will still have the editable text boxes to type into and can save it to your desktop.

More About This Product:

• It is important to learn about the theme of the story to deepen student's comprehension.
• Students can also make connections to the story when identifying the theme.
• This resource is aligned with the Common Core State Standards.
• This lesson and practice packet is engaging and fun for students.
• Students will be reading detectives, which supports student engagement and motivation.
• Student's practice 2 focus skills (identifying and describing).
• No-prep needed, just begin teaching the lesson.

The Theme Mini-Lesson includes:

• Hello Reading Detectives: Today, we are going to be reading detectives!
• Learning Objective:

-I can describe key details from a text to identify the theme of a story.

• Skill Focus

-Defining identify and describe using synonyms

• Defining Theme

-the central message or "big idea" of the story.

• Further describing theme with 4 bullet points.
• Slides 6-9 : How to Find Theme and Graphic Organizer to define theme
• Examples of Common Themes (20+ examples)
• 2 Practice Paragraph (short story paragraph about the theme hope and teamwork)
• Write your our own short story or message a common theme

-friendship and courage

• Identify and describe the theme of a fairy tale story

-Cinderella

-Describing the task slides

-Cinderella Character Graphic Organizer

-Cinderella's Stepmother Character Graphic Organizer

-The Fairy Godmother Character Graphic Organizer

-Describing the beginning, middle, and end of the Cinderella story to identify the theme

-Identifying the author's message

-Identifying what the story teaches us about the world (Big Idea)

-Describing the theme of the story Cinderella.

• Teacher or Student Selects a Text to Identify and Describe the Theme

-Graphic organizers - describing the character / story plot (beginning, middle, end)

-Describing the Author's Secret Message

-Describing what the story taught the students

-Describe the theme of the story

• Debrief: What did you learn about finding the theme of a story?

Practice Packet Includes:

• 14 slides total
• A fun title page
• The content went over in the slides.
• 2 short stories with response pages to identify and describe the theme.
• 5 slides for students to write their own short story or message using the common theme.
• 1 slide- What did you learn about finding the theme of a story.

Comment from Farmhouse Teacher Creatives:

I hope you and your students enjoy this fun activity!

Please inbox me or leave a comment below with any questions or concerns. I put my heart and effort in every product I make and spend a great deal of time editing and perfecting the product. However, I am human and may have missed an error. If you come across any error, please let me know and I will immediately fix it. 

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Please be kind and leave a review below. Your reviews help me to produce the best products possible by receiving your feedback. Thank you for your support! I hope you have a great day!