Theme - the central idea or meaning of a story. It is the general idea or insight about life that an
author wants the reader to understand.
The author does not usually tell you the theme of a story. You have to figure it out yourself. To identify
themes, the reader must consider the actions, thoughts, and words of characters in the story.
Things you can do when looking for themes- What lesson should I take from this story? What a
character learns or accomplishes in the story also points to the theme.
Common Themes
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Patience is virtue
Giving is better than receiving
What’s good for one person might not be good for another.
Family and friends are worth more than gold.
People succeed when they work together.
You should treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Character- any person or creature that takes part in the action of a story.
Setting – When and where a story takes place.
Plot- The series of events that make up a story.
Conflict – A problem that the characters must solve.
Media- different ways information can be given.
Purpose of media
Inform ( News articles, radio, school books, reports, articles, non fiction tv shows)
Entertain – ( movies, television shows, stories
Persuade - ( Web sites, speeches, editorials, essays)
Express - (blogs, web sites, e-mails, poetry, letters, journals)
Fact- something that actually happened or can be proven to be true. Synonym is literal.
Opinion – A statement that cannot be proven. It communicates someone’s belief or judgment.
Conclusion - the final idea or judgment a reader comes to after combining inferences from the text
with personal knowledge and experience.
Prediction- a guess about what will happen next.
Classification - organizing information into groups, or classes.
Most middle and high schools offer team sports programs for their students.
Soccer programs run in the fall or winter. Soccer programs are usually offered for both boys and girls.
Basketball programs begin in late fall and run through the winter. They overlap with the college
basketball season. Both boys and girls can play on basketball teams.
Volleyball is usually a fall sport. At most schools, volleyball is a girls’ sport.
The common trait of the paragraph is about school sports.
Logical order – information is presented in a way that makes sense to readers.
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Order of importance - strongest reason with best detail - least important detail first with a big
bang at the end.
Example
You really should attend the Harvest Party next week. First, all of your friends will be coming.
Second, you can try to dunk Mr. Harvey in the dunking booth. Most importantly, you might win
the $50 door prize.
Spatial description- organizing according to location. Big details to narrow details.
Words that show spatial relationships : among, around, behind, below, between, inside, on
Cause - Why something has happened.
Effect – The thing that happens as a result.
Examples - A tree branch falls on the roof
----- The roof gets a hole in it.
Don’t complete your homework ------
Sit out at recess
Sequence – the order in which events happen.
Chronological order - time sequence
Examples of time order - before, next, first, second, and finally.
Biographies, histories, and stories are often written in sequential order.
John Taylor sat on his porch, thinking about the many twists and turns his life had taken over the
years. It had been a long, happy life. After being born and raised in a small town in Georgia, John had
gone to college in Atlanta. Next, he worked at a company in Athens. Now, at the end of his life, he had
returned to his hometown to live out his days in the house in which he’d been born.
Main idea- central point of a text. It is what a passage is mostly about.
Details- Pieces of information.
Text features – are parts of a text that help readers find and understand information easily.
Examples of text features –
Paragraph , topic sentence, concluding sentence, glossary, table of contents, titles ,heading, and
subheadings, index
Graphic features – Help explain ideas visually.
Timeline- Shows the order of events over time.
Graph- shows the relationship of one variable to another by comparing information about each
on a vertical and horizontal axis.
Chart- a very simple form of graph that shows information in rows and columns.
Diagram – a drawing that explains the parts of an object or how something works.
Sensory details – Using senses to expand on a character, setting, or scene.
Literary devices – are sensory details and figurative language authors use to help convey their message
Figurative Language – Words or phrases that express something beyond their literal meaning.
Simile – compares two things with like or as
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My life is like a red, red rose.
Metaphor- compares two things without like or as.
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This lesson is a breeze
Hyperbole – an exaggeration on purpose for effect.
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I tried calling you a million times.
Personification – give human traits to nonhuman things.
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The trees danced in the wind.
Onomatopoeia – Sound effects in writing
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Ding! Ding! Ding! The bell rang
Alliteration – repetition of beginning of beginning consonant sounds in a groups of words.
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Perfectly polished pebbles.
Rhyme – repetition of the sounds the end words.
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The flight at night game me a fright
Pun- A play on words
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The Halloween story you told about the rabbits was a real hare raiser.
Idiom- Phrases that do not mean what you usually think the words mean.
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When Jill left, she broke Jack’s heart.
Dialogue- conversation between characters.
Dictionary – a tool that is used to help spell words and define them.
Thesaurus- a tool used to find words that are similar and opposite in meaning to a given word
Synonyms- Words that have the same meaning as a given word
Antonyms – Words that have opposite meaning as a given word.
Homophones- Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Examples- allowed/aloud -- break/brake---- too/to/two---- past / passed--- won/one
Root word- the main part of a word that contains its basic meaning
Prefix- part of a word that is attached to the front of a word.
Examples- dis, re, un, tri
Suffix- part of a word that is attached to the end of a word.
Examples – less, ly, ology, ies
Context Clue – the text that surrounds an unfamiliar word or phrase.
My friend Joy loves playing squash. I often see her heading for the indoor courts, racquet in
hand.
WHAT IS SQUASH?
Multiple Meaning- A word that can be used in two or more different ways. The context
around the words allow for understanding.
Example - Joe turned right onto Paris Street and parked his bike.
Joe was right about one thing.
Example - Do you object to the ruling the judge made?
Is that object yours?
Poetry - A type of writing in which an author uses figurative language and literary devices
to create meaning and invoke emotion in the reader, often using rhyme, ore the repetition
of syllables at the ends of words.
Stanza- A stanza is a group of lines in a poem. Poems have stanzas instead of paragraphs.
Rhyme scheme – A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes in a poem. In the example, the
rhyme scheme is abcb
There’s a neat little clock,
In the schoolroom it stands
And it points at the time
With its two little hands.
Refrain- A refrain is a line ( or set of lines) that is repeated throughout the poem.
Root word – The main part of a word that contains its most basic meaning.
Prefix- part of a word that is attached to the beginning of a root word.
Examples of prefixes – dis, re, un, tri, bi
Suffix – part of a word that is attached to the end of a root word.
Examples of suffixes – less, ly, ology,
Synonyms – A word that means the same or almost the same as another word.
Examples –
happy-thrilled, pleased, overjoyed
awake – alert, wakeful
weak – feeble, frail, puny
Antonym- A word that means the opposite meaning of another word.
Examples -
Happy – sad
bad – good
slow – fast
new- old
Context clue - the text that surrounds an unfamiliar word or phrase.
Multiple –meaning words- Words that have different meaning or even different
pronunciations.
Examples – minute - I went to the story for a minute
I had a minute bite of the salad.
Object - I object to the ruling by the judge.
The object on your desk is distracting me.
Homophones – words that have the same pronunciation but are spelled differently and mean
different things.
Examples - break, break
flower, flour,
here, hear
won, one
to, too, two
Dictionary - a book that lists words alphabetically, tells how to pronounce them, and gives
their definitions.
Thesaurus – A list of words and their synonyms and antonyms.
Example - tired -
syn - weary, exhausted, sleepy, worn out
Atn - energetic, lively, active, bouncy
Contraction