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Read Chapters 14-15; Complete Student Packet Worksheets for Chapters 14-15

Read aloud Grimm’s Fairy Tale of “The Ant and the Cricket.” After reading, ask students to think about what the message the authors of the fairy tale wanted to convey to readers. List your class’ messages on chart paper. Ask students to think about why they chose this as a message. What text evidence did they use? Record their answers on chart paper.

will explain that realistic fiction novels usually contain an author’s message about a topic. This message is called a theme. A theme may be a lesson or a piece of advice the author would like to make to the reader or society in general. Common themes in works of realistic fiction focus on life, love, death, family, and friendship. Themes help shape the character, plot, settings, and events in a story.

In short stories, such as "The Ant and the Cricket," the theme is often quickly found by looking at text evidence. In longer realistic fiction novels, many authors use recurring events to convey a theme to readers. To find recurring events, I will think about important topics in the book, find events in the story that deal with those topics, and analyze the events to draw a conclusion about the author’s message.

I will first identify one topic in The Great Gilly Hopkins. One topic that we read about throughout the book is Gilly’s family. Her experiences with the various families she has lived with and her opinion about what she feels it means to be a daughter and a mother come up quite a bit throughout the book. Gilly’s ideas about family and belonging to a family are evident in the text. On the What’s the Theme? Chart 1, I’ll write “Family” under the “Topic” column. Note: See the What’s the Theme Chart 1 for specific examples.

Next, I will think about the recurring events that are centered on the topic of “Family.” Gilly is always thinking about family. She looks at pictures and letters from her birth mother. She recalls experiences with the foster families she has lived with. These events happen throughout the book, so I will write this down under the “Recurring Events” column on the What’s the Theme? Chart 1. Now, I can draw a conclusion about the theme, or the message the author wants to convey about the topic of family. I will explain that you can gather hints and specific details from the text about what the author wants to say regarding the topic.

I will think about what happens surrounding Gilly’s family situation in the book. I recall that Gilly often moved from family to family. Just when Gilly was getting comfortable with a family, something happened that made her switch to another family. For example, in Chapter 1, there are a lot of details about Gilly’s family situation. The Dixons moved to Florida and didn’t take Gilly with them, Mrs. Richmond had to go the hospital for her nerves, the Newman family wouldn’t keep Gilly when she was five, nor her most recent foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nevins, and now Gilly’s experience with Trotter’s family. Just as Gilly started to enjoy living with Trotter, her actions caused her to be taken away. Gilly always felt that her only “real” family was her birth mother. But, in the end, Gilly realized that a “family” doesn’t have to be related to you by birth. Gilly started to see that her real family is Trotter and William Ernest.

What message does the author want to convey about family?Gathering all the information I’ve learned about Gilly’s families and thinking about the ultimate message of the book, I can conclude that one of the themes of the book could be, “A family is a group of people who care for you, love you, and accept you at all times, whether the family is related to you by birth or not.” Another possible theme is, “A family sticks together and supports one another and tries to positively impact one another throughout life.” I will write these themes under the “Theme/Author’s Message” column on the What’s the Theme? Chart.

Ask: "How do I figure out a theme in a story?" Students should respond that you look at a topic presented in the book and identify recurring events related to that topic. Then, you use text evidence to draw a conclusion about the theme of the book.

will examine the topic of forgiveness to figure out another theme of The Great Gilly Hopkins. We will write this topic under the “Topic” column on the What’s the Theme? Chart 2. Note: See the What’s the Theme Chart 2 for specific examples.

Next, we will find recurring events in the book centered on forgiveness. For example, Miss Harris forgives Gilly for writing the poetic card and Mr. Randolph forgives Gilly for stealing the money from his bookshelf. Let’s think about other events centered on forgiveness. Ask: "Can you recall other times in the book when the recurring event of forgiveness comes up?" As we recall these events or skim the book to find additional events, we will keep track of these events on the What’s the Theme? Chart 2 under the “Recurring Event” column. Note: Recurring events around the topic of “forgiveness” include: W.E. forgives Gilly for being mean to him, Trotter forgives Gilly for stealing and running away, Gilly forgives her grandmother and mother for taking her away from Trotter’s home, Gilly forgives Miss Harris from trying to call her Galadriel, Gilly forgives and accepts that her mother had not come to pick her up, and Gilly forgives herself for “messing up” with Trotter when she decides to go home with her grandmother and mother.

We will think about what these events and characters tell us about forgiveness. As a class, we will brainstorm the themes or messages the author wants to convey about forgiveness. We will write down our ideas about the theme, and then we will pick one theme about forgiveness that we feel best describes the author’s message for the book. We will record this theme under the “Theme” column on the What’s the Theme? Chart 2. Note: Possible themes include, but are not limited to, “Forgiveness brings closure and happiness” or “In order to go on with life, you must learn to forgive others and yourself.” Your students will think of various themes for forgiveness. Keep track of their ideas on chart paper.

will work with a partner to find recurring events centered on the topic of acceptance. You may skim The Great Gilly Hopkins, use your Student Packet, or use your recalling skills to identify recurring events for this topic. You and your partner will write down the recurring events, details, and information about these events under the “Recurring Events” column on your What’s the Theme? Worksheet in your Student Packet. (See page 28 in the Student Packet.) For the “Theme” column, you will ask yourselves: What is the message the author wants to convey about acceptance? You and your partner will write your theme ideas under the “Theme” column on your What’s the Theme? Worksheet.

will share the recurring events we have identified related to the topic of acceptance. Each group will present their theme or author’s message about acceptance.

After each group presents their theme statement, prompt the students with questions to help analyze the theme further. For example, how does your belief or experience about a theme differ from the author’s message in the book? How is it the same? Ask: "What other topics and themes do you think were presented in the book that we have not identified?" Have students recall recurring events around this topic and draw a conclusion about the theme for this topic.