Used in over 1,700 districts.

Indiana ELA Standard: 4.RC.2

Paraphrase or summarize the main events in a story, myth, legend, or novel; identify the theme and provide evidence for the interpretation. (E)

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.

A Character’s Challenges and Changes

A Character’s Challenges and Changes

Your 1st and 2nd graders will analyze how a character responded to a challenge.

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?

Romeo and Juliet Summary

Romeo and Juliet Summary

Romeo and Juliet in just about five minutes.

“Much Ado About Nothing” Summary

“Much Ado About Nothing” Summary

Shakespeare’s Much Ado summarized in just five minutes!

Twelfth Night Summary

Twelfth Night Summary

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

Hamlet Summary

Hamlet Summary

It’s Hamlet in just about five minutes!

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…