1. Themes 1 December 2014

2. Warm-Up  In your own words, what is a theme?

3. Theme  A broad idea, message, moral, universal truth, or lesson expressed in a story

4. Common Themes  Confidence vs. insecurities  Overcoming fear  Acceptance  Teamwork or collaboration  The value of time  Friendship  Life and death  Family bonds and loyalty

5. Ask Yourself…  What is the big idea of this story?  What do the characters do or say that support that idea?  What do these things tell me about life?

6. The Beginning of Armadillos  What is the theme here?  What do the characters do that support that theme?

7. The Three W’s  What did we learn today?  So what? Why is it important?  Now what? How does this fit into what we’ve been learning?  Please write a paragraph answering these three questions to turn in to me

8. Themes Continued 3 December 2014

9. Warm-Up  What did you learn on Monday that you didn’t know before?

10. How the Camel got his Hump  What is the theme here?  What do the characters do that support that theme?

11. Vocabulary Words  Tamarisks- a type of shrub that grows in the desert  Palaver- a long unnecessary talk  Indaba- a conference  Puncnayet- a village council  Djinn- a genie

12. What’s the Theme?  Write a quick paragraph describing the theme and three pieces of evidence to support that theme to turn in to me.

13. Group Time!  Figure out the theme of your genre novel and some evidence to support it  Discuss with your group the different themes you all have  What do these different themes tell you about your genre?

14. 3,2,1, Let’s Go!  On a piece of paper write down…  Three things you learned today  Two things you still have questions about  One thing you want me to know  Turn it in before you leave