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Arizona ELA Standard: 4.RL.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Summarize In Haiku

Summarize In Haiku

Can your students fit a whole story into seventeen syllables? In a haiku, every word has to fight for its spot.

Shrinking A Summary

Shrinking A Summary

Can your students shrink a whole story down to one sentence? Every cut reveals what is truly essential.

Comparing Characters

Comparing Characters

Your young students will compare how two characters have changed in a story.

Identifying A Story’s Theme

Identifying A Story’s Theme

Teach your young students to identify the moral or the theme of a story.

Introducing Universal Theme of Conflict

Introducing Universal Theme of Conflict

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Conflict? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Remixing A Holiday Poem

Remixing A Holiday Poem

Let’s take a classic Christmas poem and remix it to work with another holiday!

Writing Sample: The Fall of the House of Usher

Writing Sample: The Fall of the House of Usher

A passage from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Depth and Complexity: 🏛️ Big Idea

Depth and Complexity: 🏛️ Big Idea

Let’s get students thinking big and focusing on more abstract ideas.

Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details

Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details

Get kids focusing on the small, but essential, details of a topic.

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Every fantasy story has patterns hiding underneath the magic. Once your students see the elements, they’ll spot them everywhere — and use them in their own writing.

Romeo and Juliet Summary

Romeo and Juliet Summary

Romeo and Juliet in just about five minutes.

Twelfth Night Summary

Twelfth Night Summary

An animated summary of Shakespeare’s utterly ridiculous “Twelfth Night.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Nothing could possibly go wrong with a love potion on the loose!

Writing Summaries in Haiku

Writing Summaries in Haiku

Let’s write a summary. A very short summary. With VERY strict rules.

Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes

Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes

A typical student narrative includes plot and characters but lacks a larger idea to hold it all together. This is where a lesson on themes comes in…