#Story elements puzzle anchor chart how to#

Let’s use Catcher in the Rye as an example again.

Start a new mind map or chart that relates to specific milestones in the story, picking out keywords that summarize the theme. Now that you’ve given your students an idea of the types of themes you get, you can delve deeper into the story elements that bring these themes to life. Relating Themes to Devices Within Specific Books These themes pop up in many books and stories, regardless of the age group you teach. Other common themes you could discuss include revenge, love, good vs evil, and redemption. Themes can be general but should also be specific enough to be relevant to your student’s interests.įor example, if your high school class is reading Catcher in the Rye, growing up and alienation are two themes that carry through the story. The themes could be based on your school’s reading curriculum, or you could choose them based on the types of books your class likes to read. Using illustrations to drive home what each theme represents is always helpful. Start by making a visual table or mind map of literary themes and then choosing the ones that are most fitting for your students. An Introduction to Common Literary Themes

#Story elements puzzle anchor chart how to#

Your anchor chart will be their guide on how to do this, and it will serve as a broader reference for all the common themes that are explored in other books. Literary themes are like a puzzle readers try to solve when analyzing a book.

Need Anchor Charts and Lesson Plans for Your Literature Class? Use Teach Simple.

Teaching theme – resources from Teach Simple.

Different Ways of Presenting Themes Anchor Charts.

You can use different types of theme anchor charts, with the following being the most popular ones:

Unlike story elements and character traits, which can be stated, an author never talks about the theme explicitly.Ī theme anchor chart will help you define a theme in general and show students how they can identify it while reading a story.

Identifying a theme of a written piece can be tricky. We’ll also show you where you can find top-quality lesson plans and anchor charts on themes online. We’ll show you how a theme anchor chart works and how you can use them in your classes. An anchor chart can help you do exactly what its name says-anchor your students and give them something they can turn to whenever they need a reminder of the information you’ve presented. They have to learn about many concepts which sound similar at first sight, but you-their teacher-know how different they are. Literature classes can sometimes be a little overwhelming for students.