Free Literature Theme Posters

My afterschool tutoring group has recently been working on identifying the Main Idea and Theme, specifically CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9 – Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series). 

To help my students understand what theme is, I used this little acronym I’ve seen all over the Internet: THEME = THE Message. The kids thought this was so neat, and I found it really helped them remember what theme is and how it differs from the main idea.

After introducing my students to theme, I went over some of the basic themes found in children’s literature. To help, I created these theme posters that we hung around the classroom after our discussion. These theme posters would be great to keep up year-round. After reading a book as a class, decide which theme it fits under, and then post the cover image below the theme posters.