Theme might be the most difficult concept for ELA students of all ages to understand. This visual guide to theme presents the concept of theme for students in a way that they can easily comprehend and remember. You can print it off for their notebooks or learning stations, post it in the room, or place it on your classroom page. In addition, there are teaching tips that I have used successfully in my classroom to help students strategically understand theme including: writing theme statements - practice determining the topic of a text and constructing a theme from that topic theme research - researching common themes in literature and how authors address them. This builds literacy about theme and gives them a toolbox to draw from when investigating themes in works. A quick word about the terminology used in this resource. I know that some teachers say that a "theme" has to be a complete sentence. While I agree with this idea, I have called a statement of theme in a complete sentence a "theme statement." My reasoning for doing so is because many discussions about "universal themes" revolve around single words, like "love" and "friendship" because many statements about these topics, as they relate to specific works of literature, are not universally applicable to EVERY text that addresses that topic. Furthermore, a lot of websites that students might come across online use the term "theme" as words or phrases. In order to cut down the confusion, I have presented it the way that I have. If you like this resource, you might be interested in these: Parts of Speech: Grammar Bundle Sentence Problems (Common Writing Mistakes) Middle School Language Arts Bundle Vocabulary Cartoons: Roots and Affixes Poetry Comics Bundle Hamlet: Comic Summaries and Activities A Midsummer Night's Dream: Comic Summaries and Activities Macbeth: Comic Summaries and Activities Romeo and Juliet: Comic Summaries and Actvities Romeo and Juliet: Comic Summaries and Actvities Intro to Shakespeare Activity Bundle Connect with Me! Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store Visit my Blog Follow me on Facebook follow me on Twitter Thanks, David Rickert © David Rickert All rights reserved by author. Duplication limited to single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.