1. Theme

2. The truth or central idea a story reveals about life. Moral, Life Lesson Overall Message Implied, not stated THEMETHEME Any theme can be considered valid if you can support it with text evidence. Example: Follow your dreams

3. Themes A theme is not a word, it is a sentence. You don’t have to agree with the theme to identify it. Examples Money can’t buy happiness. Don’t judge people based on their looks.

4. Theme in Music Listen to the lyrics to the song in the following video. What are the themes? http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=vx2u5uUu3DE

5. What is the theme? I looked at all the candy I could buy. I had the dollar, right here in my hand, but suddenly I didn’t feel hungry. I wished that I hadn’t stolen the dollar. I wished that I hadn’t taken the money from my brother’s bank. “I don’t think I want to buy anything today,” I muttered quickly to the clerk. Then I ran from the store. It’s better to be honest than to have money.

6. What is the Theme? A shepherd boy watching a flock of sheep caused a group of villagers to come running to his aid twice by crying. “Wolf! Wolf!” Each time the villagers arrived, the boy laughed because he fooled them. The next time, a real wolf did come and the villagers ignored his cries for help. They thought the boy was trying to trick them again. The shepherd boy was never seen again. Nothing good comes from lying.

7. What is the Theme? Jenny was so excited. She had a pack of Starburst in her lunch and she had been looking forward to eating them all morning. Lunch finally came and Jenny sat down to eat her Starbursts when her friend Judy sat next to her. “ Let me get the pink ones, ” asked Judy. Jenny liked the pink ones best, but she thought Judy was funny and Jenny wanted Judy to like her, so Jenny gave Judy all of her pink Starbursts. Before Jenny was done giving Judy the pink ones, Carrie sat on the other side of Jenny. “ Let me get the red and the orange ones, Jenny. Remember when I gave you that Snickers? ” Jenny didn ’ t remember that, though she did remember when Carrie ate a whole Snickers in front of her, but Jenny thought Carrie was cool, so she gave her the red and the orange Starbursts. Now that she only had the yellow ones, Jenny wasn’t so excited about eating Starbursts anymore. You can’t buy friends.

9. What is the theme? Jenny hated reading class. She didn ’ t understand point of view or figurative language, and not knowing how to do the work frustrated her. She asked the teacher for help, but he spoke so fast and used such big words that she still couldn ’ t understand. The teacher asked if she understood, and she nodded her head, but she didn ’ t. Jenny ’ s friend Katie knew that Jenny was having trouble, and, rather than just giving Jenny all of the answers, Katie explained to Jenny how to solve the problems. Katie spoke clearly and at Jenny ’ s level, and Jenny was happy that she finally learned how to do the work. Later in the week, Katie was having trouble in math class. She didn ’ t understand coordinates and was really frustrated. Seeing that Katie was having problems, Jenny, who understood math very well, taught Katie coordinates. Both girls made honor roll tha t quarter. We can all do better when we work together Cooperation is the key to success.

10. We’re going to listen to The Giving Tree and list themes from the story.The Giving Tree 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

11. http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=RwlhUcSGqgs Watch the following video. He states several themes throughout his presentation. Write them down as you hear them.