Theme

Our work we have done all year has been paying off! Our read alouds are purposeful, engaging books that are chosen so that we can use them as a reader AND a writer.

We have used all of our read alouds this year to help teach theme.

We studied theme for two days and encouraged students to continue to explore other books to see if the books they read would fall under the same theme.

We separated our books by thinking about what our books were about and what they want to teach children. Mentor texts were grouped accordingly to a specific theme topic -fairness, friendship, growing up, family, and other. At a first grade level, giving the theme choices helped students understand what theme was really about. The conversations while sorting the books allowed students to use text evidence to support what theme would best fit that book.

Check out the work we have done! 

Students then decided the theme of the book they were reading.

Friendship

Family

Growing up

Fairness

Other