Engaging and Meaningful Ways for Effectively Teaching Theme

Teaching theme in your classroom should be a really fun and exciting unit! I am going to share a bunch of tips and things that I have learned along the way to make your theme lessons engaging and meaningful.

What theme has been prevalent in your life lately? Patience and empathy have been the leaders in this house lately as we help our toddler navigate his big feelings.

Tips for Teaching Theme Lesson

1st Step to Teaching Theme- Define What Is It?

I always explain theme to my students as the message of the text.

Te author uses the:

big idea
problem & solution
character’s actions

to send a message through the story.

As we read, I prompt my students to think about:

What problem does the character face?

How does the character grow or change?

What big idea connects all of parts of the story?

Theme vs. Moral

I have found that the terms theme and moral often get confused. I teach my students both so that they are able to differentiate between the meanings and how they are seen in texts.

The most concrete way of explaining the difference is through examples. The anchor chart example above shows how a theme could be perseverance and the moral would be hard work pays off.

I have found that my 2nd graders had an easier time finding the moral of the story so that would be our foundation for thinking about the text clues to conclude the theme of the book.

Mentor Texts

An essential part to planning a your theme lesson is to pick the perfect mentor text. You should think about a story that is relevant, interesting, relatable to your students. The first book that you use as a think aloud in your interactive read aloud should have a CLEAR theme and message.

It is beneficial for students to feel successful and engaged in learning to find the theme from the first book so they get excited for each lesson after!

I share my favorite theme mentor texts at this blog post!

As we are reading the mentor text, Tia the Theme Tracker teaches students how to notice important parts of the story and use a special sentence frame to talk about the theme.

teaching theme lesson plans — This theme lesson frame can be used with ANY mentor text!

Teach What the Theme Words Mean

I have found that one of the most difficult (but also the best) parts of teaching theme is that your students may not know what perseverance or empathy mean in order to realize that is the theme. As someone who LOVES incorporating social emotional learning whenever possible, I love having the opportunity to teach these words to my students and talk about how it is seen in their lives as well as the book.

Common theme in children’s picture books:

perseverance
friendship
empathy
teamwork
fairness
acceptance
differences
honesty

Make Theme Concrete

First, the most challenging aspect of teaching theme is that it is abstract and students need to draw conclusions to figure it out. Even worse, it is subjective and can be interpreted differently because of background experiences.

I always like to start my theme reading unit with a concrete connection.

My students overnight all become big time party planners!

You can either give students clues about a party and have them guess the theme or tell them the theme and have them plan the party.

Second, the key is that we want students to notice that at a sports theme party all of the decorations support that one big idea. There might be football napkins, baseball cups, a cake with a basketball, and plates with a soccer ball. Each of the details come together to support the message that the party is about sports (and for someone who loves sports).

Example Guiding Questions:

How do the small details support the overall theme?
What party theme would be your favorite?
Would details would support a Disney theme?
What details would support a farm theme?
Why is it fun to have a theme?
What does the theme of a party tell you? (probably the interest of whoever is being celebrated)

You can also relate this to how places are decorated for a holiday. For example, what details/ decorations support a Halloween theme?