Theme Lesson: Topic vs. Theme in a Short Story, Grades 5-6 Reading

Ask a fifth grader for the theme of a story and you often get a topic: "honesty." Or a plot summary: "Ines practices the high jump and clears the bar." Neither is a theme. This lesson teaches the difference. A topic is a word or two.

What's inside

• 14 slides, with speaker notes on all 14
• Lesson plan, 2 pages
• Original story "Sixty Squares," 2 pages, paragraphs numbered
• Student worksheet, 2 pages
• Answer key, 1 page
• All printables in one ready-to-print PDF, 7 pages

Answer key included

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