Looking for Theme in the Details

Look for Theme in the Details

• First, re-read the text for details

• Have theme in mind while you are reading

• Choose what theme or themes are represented in the text

• Mark places where you see the author using specific details to support the theme

• How do these details support the theme?

From Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

The days grew warmer and warmer. The pond thawed. Grass began growing where snow had once been. One day, Maya came to school wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. But the shoes and the dress looked like they’d belonged to another girl before Maya.

I have a new name for her, Kendra whispered. Never new.

Everything she has came from a secondhand store.

We all laughed. Maya stood by the fence.

• Theme: Difference

• Details: “Maya came to school wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. But the shoes and the dress looked like they’d belonged to another girl before Maya.”

• How does it support theme?: This tells us that Maya was wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. The word “but” shows that because they were secondhand, they were different and not good enough.

• Theme: Difference

• Details: “We all laughed. Maya stood by the fence.”

• How does it support theme?: This is showing how clearly different Maya is. They are laughing and standing in one area and Maya is physically standing apart from them. They want to be in away from her because of her differences.

Now You Do It…• Re-read the text “About Loving” (if you don’t

have one, I have extra copies on my desk)

• Use the worksheet• Come up with 2 themes you see in the story• List the detail, the theme that it supports and

how you see it supporting the theme• Do all 3 detail boxes