“Everything is so linear, but this makes me think diagonally!” ~ a student describing Byrdseed.TV

Indiana ELA Standard: 5.RC.2

Determine the theme of a story, play, or poem from details in the text, including how characters respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. (E)

Summarize In Haiku: Power
Summarize In Haiku: Power
Can your students fit a whole story into seventeen syllables? Now do it from inside a character’s head. Then once more, following the power.
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?
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.
Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity
Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity
Your students will use Depth and Complexity to note how a character’s main trait changes across a story.
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.
“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!
Writing Summaries in Haiku
Writing Summaries in Haiku
Let’s write a summary. A very short summary. With VERY strict rules.
Think Like An Economist
Think Like An Economist
How would an economist read Goldilocks? How would they see a rainforest? How would they study the American Revolution?
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…