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Grade 8 Theme & Moral Worksheet with Answers

Grade 8 (US) · Year 9 (UK) · Class 8 (India) · English

Unit 4: Reading LiteratureThemeCCSS RL.8.2

Finding the lesson or message of fables and short stories, and telling a theme from a topic. This free middle school worksheet has 12 questions and a full answer key. Print it or save it as a PDF — every answer is checked by code, not guessed.

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Theme & Moral

Grade 8 · English

Score___ / 12

Name

Class

Date

Learning goal: Theme · CCSS RL.8.2

Directions: This worksheet has 3 parts. Read the instructions at the start of each part.

RememberThe story mountain (plot)

Expositioncharacters, settingRising actionproblems buildClimaxturning pointFalling actionthings settleResolutionhow it ends
Part A

Read each short text. What is a theme?

  1. 1

    Maya practiced piano every day for a year. At the recital, she played perfectly.

  2. 2

    The ugly duckling was teased, then grew into a beautiful swan.

  3. 3

    The king had all the gold he wanted, but he turned his daughter to gold by touching her.

  4. 4

    Nobody in town liked the strange new neighbor, until he saved a child from a fire.

Part B

Read each short text. What is the lesson?

  1. 5

    The tortoise kept going slowly and beat the speedy hare, who stopped to nap.

  2. 6

    The dog saw its reflection holding a bigger bone, snapped at it, and dropped its own bone.

  3. 7

    Two friends found a bear. One climbed a tree and left the other behind.

  4. 8

    A tiny mouse freed a lion from a net, after the lion had spared its life.

  5. 9

    A boy cried "Wolf!" as a joke. When a real wolf came, nobody believed him.

  6. 10

    The ant worked all summer. The grasshopper played, and had no food in winter.

Part C

Answer each question. Use full sentences where you can.

  1. 11

    What is the difference between a topic and a theme?

  2. 12

    Is 'friendship' a theme statement? Answer yes or no, and explain.

★ Challenge corner for fast finishers

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?

How did I do?

Teacher's comments

Free printable worksheets with answer keys · aethelsystems.com/worksheets/english/8/themes

Answer key (click to show)
  1. 1.hard work and practice pay off
  2. 2.people grow and change; true worth shows in time
  3. 3.greed can destroy what matters most
  4. 4.don't judge people before you know them
  5. 5.slow and steady wins the race
  6. 6.greed can make you lose what you have
  7. 7.a true friend stands by you in danger
  8. 8.even small friends can help; kindness is repaid
  9. 9.people won't believe liars, even when they tell the truth
  10. 10.work hard and plan ahead
  11. 11.a topic is what the story is about; a theme is the message about it
  12. 12.no — it is a topic; a theme is a full statement such as 'true friends support each other'
  13. ★footsteps (challenge corner)

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How to use this worksheet

  • Works well as a bell-ringer, exit ticket, homework set or quick quiz.
  • Have students self-check with the answer key, then correct their own mistakes before you review.
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Guides for teaching Theme & Moral

7 Reading Comprehension Strategies Every Student Should UsePredict, question, visualize, summarize and more — what good readers do automatically, and how to practise each one.Literary Devices: 20 Examples Every Student Should KnowSimile, metaphor, personification, irony and more — each with a clear definition, an example, and a quick test for telling similar devices apart.Simple, Compound, Complex and Compound-Complex Sentences ExplainedA clear way to tell the four sentence structures apart, with examples and the two-question test students can use on any sentence.

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