Themes in Reading: Four Digital Lessons Using Google Slides

This digital literary themes resource features four complete lessons. It is compatible with Google Slides. The lessons feature both instructional slides AND practice slides where students complete a task related to the instructional slides. Use these theme activities over the course of four days to provide targeted instruction for your students. They can be used as a large group activity, in a small group setting, OR as an engaging self-paced reading lesson.

The slides in each lesson progress from basic to more complex. Answer keys are included. CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW to see some of the slides in these lessons.

Lesson #1: Introduction to Literary Themes (9 slides)

-This lesson includes five instructional slides. This lesson begins by defining "theme" and introducing the cupcake analogy to students. (Just as creme filling can be hidden inside a cupcake, the theme is often hidden inside a story.) Then, students are given a guiding question that can help them identify a book's theme: What life lesson does the author want me to learn from reading this book? Finally, a list of common themes is presented to students.

-The lesson contains three practice slides. On the first practice slide, students read a story and choose the theme that best matches the story. On the final two slides, students read four real book summaries and choose the theme on the list that matches each book.

Lesson #2: Main Idea vs. Theme & Inferring the Theme (10 slides)

-This lesson includes four instructional slides. First, students are taught how to differentiate between the theme and the main idea. After a brief practice activity applying this skill, students are then reminded that students usually must infer the theme.

- The lesson contains five practice slides. On the first practice slide, students must differentiate between statements that reflect the main idea and statements that reflect the theme. The second practice slide contains a story, and students must highlight the theme that is mentioned directly in the text of the story. The final three slides contain short fiction passages. After reading each passage, students must infer the theme and type it in the answer box.

Lesson #3: Identifying Multiple Themes in One Story (9 slides)

-This lesson begins with one instructional slide. The girl on the slide explains that many books contain more than one theme. She then gives an example of a book she has been reading and lists the multiple themes she has found while reading the story.

-The final seven slides are designed to be independent practice activities. Students read two fiction stories. When they finish reading each story, they identify two themes they noticed while reading.

Lesson #4: Putting It All Together/Test Prep (10 slides)

-This lesson has four practice passages. After reading each fiction passage, there is a multiple-choice question that requires students to choose the main theme of the story. These passages and questions reflect the type of theme items students might find on a standardized test.

**IMPORTANT NOTE!**

This digital lesson resource is an expanded version of my printable theme trifolds. Some of the practice activities in my printable trifolds are the same as the practice activities in these digital lessons. The main difference between the two versions is that this digital version offers complete lessons with additional instructional slides that are not included in the printable trifolds. I really want to stress the overlap to teachers who have previously purchased my theme trifolds so that they are aware of this overlap before they purchase this expanded, alternate version.

**Check out my FREE CHARACTER TRAITS LESSON if you want to view the structure of these lessons a bit more closely.

If you're looking for additional materials for teaching about literary themes, feel free to check out my theme bundle. (Click here!)

Click on the following links to check out my other Digital ELA Lessons!

Figurative Language: Seven Digital Lessons

Main Idea: Four Digital Lessons

Context Clues: Four Digital Lessons

Inferences: Four Digital Lessons

Author's Purpose: Four Digital Lessons

Plot: Four Digital Lessons

Text Evidence: Four Digital Lessons

Summarizing Fiction: Four Digital Lessons

Summarizing Nonfiction: Four Digital Lessons

Cause and Effect: Four Digital Lessons

Digital Lesson ELA BUNDLE: ALL 11 Topics

Copyright by Deb Hanson

This item is a paid digital download from my TpT store

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Deb-Hanson

This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Copying for more than one teacher is prohibited. This item is also bound by copyright laws. Redistributing, editing, selling, or posting this item (or any part thereof) on an Internet site that is not password protected are all strictly prohibited without first gaining permission from the author. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me if you wish to be granted special permissions!