Terrific Theme Mentor Texts
If you’re looking for theme mentor texts you have come to the right place! In this blog post, we are going to dive into what you should look for when choosing a book for a theme lesson. We will also discuss how to use it effectively.
Let’s start with some common themes found in children’s picture books, and that I like to use in the beginning lessons of teaching theme.
- Perseverance
- Friendship
- Empathy
- Teamwork
- Fairness
- Acceptance
- Honesty
Teaching with Theme Mentor Texts
When I teach theme I like to start with one theme and read several books related to that. I feel this helps to really teach the meaningful of theme and how it is seen in multiple books. Once students have this foundational understanding of what theme is, then you can introduce multiple theme examples.
How do you pick that first theme to focus on for a while? Well I like to ask myself each year if there is a specific social emotional skill my students could use to talk about over and over for a few days, if you catch my drift! 🙂
Theme Mentor Texts I Recommend
Tips for while you are reading:
If you tell kids the theme first
- Track and record examples of it while you read
- Make sure to define the theme beforehand and talk about examples
If you are deciding on the theme
- Write down important words or actions
- Discuss what the characters are feeling and how their relationship are
- Write down ideas of what the theme could be while reading then analyze those at the end
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