Teaching Students to Identify the Author’s Message, Purpose, Theme, and Character Traits (Grades 2–5)

Table of Contents

1. Why Do We Interpret and Reflect On Our Reading?
2. How to Teach Students to Find Author’s Message and Theme
3. What Teachers Look for When Students Identify Theme
4. Common Themes for Elementary Readers
5. Deep Questions to Discuss Theme
6. Books, Movies, and Songs for Teaching Theme
7. The Purpose of Literature
8. Understanding Author’s Purpose and Point of View
9. Questions to Help Students Determine Purpose and Point of View
10. Teaching Character Traits and Character Analysis
11. Positive and Negative Character Traits List
12. How Students Identify Character Traits
13. Why Character Traits Matter for Comprehension
14. Core Character Traits for Students

 

1. Starting in 2nd grade, students learn to interpret and reflect on their reading. Why?

Teaching the author’s message and theme in elementary school builds a strong reading foundation. Here’s why it is essential:

1. Builds Critical ThinkingStudents learn to move beyond basic plot and uncover deeper meaning, strengthening analytical skills.
2. Improves Reading ComprehensionUnderstanding the message helps readers identify ideas, important events, and the purpose of the story.
3. Develops Empathy & PerspectiveThemes often explore universal topics—kindness, courage, fairness—which promote emotional growth.
4. Strengthens Communication SkillsExplaining a theme helps students articulate ideas clearly in speaking and writing.
5. Connects Reading to Real LifeStudents recognize life lessons and apply them to their own experiences.
6. Prepares Students for Advanced Literary AnalysisEarly exposure helps students succeed with more complex texts in later grades.

2. How to Teach Students to Find the Author’s Message and Theme

Themes mean “THE MEaning” ~ the theme is the message you find in the story and can apply to your own life. It is much different than a summary. Notice “the me” in the word theme.  🙂

Interpreting a Story – Identifying the Author’s Message

This is inferring—using clues and prior knowledge to understand what the author wants readers to learn.

Teachers look for:

• Insightful understanding of the text
• Evidence from fiction or nonfiction
• What the character learned
• A clearly stated message supported by reasoning

 

Helpful prompt:

“State what the character learned, and use your background knowledge to identify the big idea.”

Reflecting on a Story – Understanding the Importance

Reflection requires students to determine what matters most and explain why.

Ask students:

• “What is the most important message of the story?”
• “What lesson is the author trying to teach?”
• “What was the most important event?”

Advanced readers recognize how events connect to create a resolution and can justify their thinking with evidence.

Teachers look for:

• Identification of the most significant event
• Character traits and inferred qualities
• A meaningful theme supported by logical reasoning

 

3. The Theme Should Be. . .

• Clearly stated
• Supported by text evidence
• Include inference of unstated character traits
• Reflective of higher-level thinking in explaining why the theme matters

 

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4. Common Themes for Elementary Readers

Themes often teach readers:

• People all have similar needs
• Friendship and loyalty matter
• Family is important
• Bullying or prejudice is wrong
• Hard work leads to success
• Honesty is the best policy
• Believe in yourself
• You can overcome struggles
• Follow your dreams
• Kindness improves the world

5. Deep Questions to Think About Related to Theme

• What lesson does the author want readers to understand?
• How do kindness, helping, or improving the world appear in this book?
• Does good conquer evil?
• What life lesson does a character learn?
• What obstacles does the main character overcome?
• Is there a climax where the main issue comes together?
• What moral or life lesson does the story teach?
• How does the protagonist solve problems?
• Is there an antagonist? What role do they play?

 

6. Picture Books for Teaching Theme

• Faithful Elephants — Yukio Tsuchiya
• Fly Away Home — Eve Bunting
• The Old Woman Who Named Things — Cynthia Rylant
• The Raft — Jim LaMarche
• Mr. Peabody’s Apples — Madonna
• Old Turtle and the Broken Truth — Douglas Wood
• Fables — Arnold Lobel

Movies for Discussing Theme

• The Lion King — responsibility
• Babe — redemption
• The Emperor’s New Groove — humility
• Antz — friendship
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — greed
• A Little Princess — imagination and resilience

Songs for Theme Discussions

• “Hero” — Mariah Carey
• “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” — Green Day
• “I Hope You Dance” — Lee Ann Womack
• “Cats in the Cradle” — Harry Chapin
• “Hold On” — Wilson Phillips

7. Literature acts as:

• A mirror to enable readers to reflect on life problems and circumstances
• A source of knowledge
• A source of ideological challenge
• A means to peer into the past and the future
• A vehicle to other places
• A tool to reflect on inner struggles
• An introduction to the realities of life and death
• A vehicle for the raising and discussion of social issues

8. Understanding Author’s Purpose and Point of View

Author’s purpose = WHY the text was written

Author’s point of view = HOW the author feels about the topic

Purposes:

• Entertain: characters, setting, problem, solution
• Inform: who, what, when, where, why, how
• Persuade: opinion + reasons
  Get FREE author’s purpose worksheets here—

9. Questions to Help Students Determine Purpose & Perspective

• Why do I think the author wrote this?
• What clues show how the author feels about the topic?
• How is my point of view similar or different?
• What might be an alternative perspective?
• Why do you believe that?

 

10. Teaching Character Traits and Analysis

Character traits = adjectives describing how a character consistently behaves, thinks, or feels.

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11. Positive and Negative Character Traits List

 

Trait-Positive	Trait-Negative
Attitude
accepts authority, loyal, devoted	rebellious
accepts what’s given	ignores, rejects what’s given
affectionate	distant, cold, aloof
aspiring, ambitious, motivated	self-satisfied, unmotivated
candid	closed, guarded, secretive
caring	uncaring, unfeeling, callous, insensitive
change ~ accepts, embraces	rejects change
cheerful	cheerless, gloomy, sour, grumpy
considerate, thoughtful	inconsiderate, thoughtless
cooperative	uncooperative, unhelpful, combative
courageous	cowering, fearful
courteous	rude, impolite
decisive	indecisive
devoted	uncommitted, uncaring, hostile
determined	indecisive, unsure
does what is necessary, righteous	does what is convenient
perseveres, endures	relents, gives up
enthusiastic	unenthusiastic, apathetic, indifferent
expansive	kept back, tight, constricting
faith in life	suspicious
faith in oneself	lack of faith in self
faith in others	distrusts others
flexible	inflexible, rigid, unbending, stubborn
forgiving	unforgiving, resentful, spiteful
focused	unfocused, scattered
freedom is given to others	authoritarian, controlling
friendly	unfriendly, distant, aloof, hostile
frugal, thrifty	wasteful, spendthrift
generous	stingy, miserly, selfish
goodwill	ill-will, malice, hatred
grateful	ungrateful, unappreciative
hardworking	lazy
honest	dishonest, deceiving, lying
humble	arrogant, conceited, ego-centric
interested	indifferent, uncaring
involved	complacent, indifferent
not jealous	jealous, envious, covetous
kind	unkind, cold, cruel, mean
mature	immature
modest	vain
open-minded, tolerant	narrow, closed, small-minded, intolerant
optimistic	pessimistic
perfectionist	allows imperfection
persistent, sustaining	fleeting, unsustaining
positive	negative
practical	impractical, not viable
punctual	late, not on time
realistic	unrealistic, impractical
reliable	unreliable, undependable
respectful	disrespectful, rude, impolite
takes responsibility	blames others
responsible	unreliable, undependable
responsive	unresponsive, unreceptive
self-confident	lack of self-confidence, insecure
self-directed	directed by externals
self-disciplined	undisciplined, unrestrained, indulgent
high self-esteem	low self-esteem, low confidence
self-giving	self-centered
self-reliant	dependent
selfless	selfish
sensitive	insensitive, indifferent
serious	frivolous, silly, trivial
sincere	insincere, dishonest
social independence	social approval required
sympathetic	unsympathetic, unfeeling
systematic	unsystematic, disorganized, disorderly, random
takes others’ points of view	insists on their view
thoughtful towards others	thoughtless, inconsiderate, insensitive
trusting	suspicious, mistrusting
unpretentious	pretentious, affected, ostentatious
unselfish	selfish
willingness	unwilling, reluctant, recalcitrant
work-oriented	convenience first

 

12. How Students Identify Character Traits

Students ask:

• What does the character say and do?
• What do they think and feel?
• How do they treat others?
• How do other characters respond to them?
• How does the character make me feel?

Character traits must be inferred—they are not always stated outright.

 

13. Why Character Traits Matter

Understanding character traits helps students:

• Predict behavior
• Explain motives
• Analyze how characters impact the plot
• Make inferences
• Understand the story at a deeper level

 

14. Core Character Traits for Students

Encourage students to reflect on their own traits:

• Responsibility
• Perseverance
• Caring
• Self-discipline
• Citizenship
• Honesty
• Courage
• Fairness
• Respect
• Integrity
• Patriotism

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Reading Comprehension Strategies

Close Reading, Complex Texts, and Test Taking

Text Dependent Questions