Common Core Standards

Grade 4

Reading RL.4.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Fourth grade is probably the first time students will hear the word "theme," which will prompt them to ask, "What is a theme?" An easy way to answer that question is to ask them to fill in the blank to the sentence "This text is about ______" with only a word or two; that word or two is usually the text's theme (such as love or friendship or kindness).