The document describes three short stories and asks the reader to identify the theme that best fits each story. The first story is about two friends, Laura and Clarissa, where Clarissa treats Laura poorly by making fun of her and tricking her into doing chores. The second story is about a boy, Don, who accidentally lets his friend Siljo's bird escape while caring for it. Siljo is sad but understands it was an accident. The third story is about a girl, Nala, who gets a phone from her mother but breaks it despite being told to wait for a case. She learns her lesson.

1. Determining Theme Practice
Laura and Clarissa hung out every day after school.
Sometimes Clarissa would make fun of Laura. She also
would trick her into doing her chores – Clarissa hated
cleaning her room, so it was nice that she could get
Laura to clean it for her. One day, Laura told Clarissa
that she was going to start hanging out with Brittney
after school instead. Laura even stopped hanging out
with Clarissa at recess.
Which theme best fits the story?
a. Friends support you even when
you make mistakes.
b. To have a good friend, you must
be a good friend.
c. Be kind to your friends and you
will be rewarded.
d. Friends do whatever it takes to
help each other.
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

2. Determining Theme Practice
When Siljo went out of town, he left his bird with his
friend Don. Don was supposed to feed it and make sure
it got a chance to fly around everyday. One day, Don
forgot that the bird was out of its cage and he opened
the front door. Siljo’s bird flew away. Don tried to find it
but he couldn’t. Don apologized when Siljo came home.
Siljo was sad, but he knew it was an accident and wasn’t
mad.
a. Friends support you even when
you make mistakes.
b. To have a good friend, you must
be a good friend.
c. Be kind to your friends and you
will be rewarded.
d. Friends do whatever it takes to
help each other.
Which theme best fits the story?
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

3. Determining Theme Practice
All of Nala’s friends had a phone, but Nala didn’t. She begged and
pleaded with her mom, and finally Nala’s mom bought her one.
Nala’s mom told her not to use the phone until they had bought a
case for it, but Nala was too excited. She wanted to show her friends.
While Nala was taking a selfie with her best friend, she accidently
dropped her phone. The screen shattered, and Nala was horrified. Her
new phone was already broken.
Nala’s mom made her pay $50.00 to fix the screen. When she got
the phone back, she wrapped it in a pair of socks and stored it safely
until she had bought a case for it. She wasn’t going to risk breaking it
again.
Learn from your
mistakes.
Which statement below could be the theme of the passage?
Which statement could be the main idea of the passage?
Which statement is a detail from the passage?
A girl breaks her phone
and then decides to
keep it safe until she
gets a case.
Nala wrapped her
phone in a pair of socks
so it wouldn’t break.
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

4. Determining Theme Practice
Which of the main idea statements below could be for a story that
has the theme “We are stronger together than we are apart.”
Hint: There are 3 possible answers. Find all 3!
Blake has to finish his
homework before he is
allowed to play video games.
A class works together to
stop the school bully.
The lone penguin dies from
the cold, but the penguins
that stayed in a group were
able to huddle for warmth.
Deion protests an unfair
rule. Nobody listens until
the whole community gets
involved.
After waiting patiently all
day, the crocodile finally
gets a meal.
Jessica hides a broken toy
so her sister won’t get mad.
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

5. Determining Theme Practice
Amal and Jake were building a maze using simple
machines. They had been working on this project for
weeks, and it was due tomorrow. Jake grabbed the
lever to make a few adjustments and ended up breaking
it in half. Amal was really upset. He had worked hard on
that lever. He took a deep breath, reminding himself
that Jake had not broken it on purpose. He told Jake
not to worry about it.
Right now, the theme of this story could be
”Friends forgive each other when they make mistakes.”
Change details in the story so that the theme is
“If at first you don’t succeed, try again.”
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

6. Determining Theme Practice
Write a paragraph about a child at home alone
with one of the following themes:
Do the right thing, even when it is hard.
Appearances can be deceiving.
Everyone has a place where they belong.
Share your story with a partner. See if they
can figure out the theme.
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.

7. You might also like:
Teaching Theme So Students Actually Understand
Main Idea Slideshow
Teaching Summarizing So Students Actually Understand
Or, CLICK HERE to buy
some low prep activities
to help your students
understand theme.
Graphics by:
A Peace of Africa
© 2019 Kalena Baker: Teaching Made Practical. All rights reserved.