How to Find Themes — A Wrinkle in Time
From Crash Course Kids · 2025
5 min4th5th6thReading & Writing (ELA)
Summary
Uses Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time to teach the difference between a topic (love) and a theme (love can overcome great evil) — and shows how to trace a theme across an entire story using evidence.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Theme is one of the trickiest concepts in ELA — this video gives students a strong model.
- What is the difference between a topic and a theme? Give an example of each.
- A theme statement should be a full sentence, not just one word. Why?
- What evidence from A Wrinkle in Time supports the theme the video identifies?
- Can one book have multiple themes? Which theme in a book you've read stands out most to you?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: theme, topic, evidence, statement, universal, message, author's purpose.
Try it: Take a fairy tale you know. Write: (1) the topic in one word, (2) the theme as a complete sentence, (3) two pieces of evidence from the story. Then share — do classmates agree with your theme?