A theme is a central idea, subject, or message in a story. Many stories have more than one important theme. For this activity, students will identify and illustrate two of the themes in The Tiger Rising. Teachers may ask students to identify and illustrate two themes, or identify one theme and illustrate two examples of it.
Rob and his father suffered a great loss when Rob’s mother died. Rob pushed his feelings aside and tried to ignore them until they all came out at once. Sistine grieves her father, who has moved away and is no longer in her life.
When Rob moves to a new town, he doesn’t know anyone and is lonely. He finds the most unexpected friend in Sistine, and realizes how important it is to have a friend in his life.
Rob packed his feelings about his mother’s death away and pretended they didn’t exist. When he released his sorrow and pain, he felt better and had hope for his future.
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Due Date:
Objective: Create a storyboard that identifies recurring themes in The Tiger Rising. Illustrate instances of each theme and write a short description below each cell.
Student Instructions:
Facilitate a class discussion after students create their storyboards. Invite students to share which themes they chose and why, and encourage them to compare different examples. This helps students build critical thinking skills and see how themes connect to real-life experiences.
Ask students to relate themes from The Tiger Rising to their own lives. Have them write or share a brief personal story that connects to a theme like friendship or dealing with feelings. This makes learning more meaningful and helps students empathize with characters.
Remind students to support their identified themes with direct quotes or specific scenes from the book. Model how to reference the story when explaining theme choices. This strengthens literary analysis skills and gives students practice citing evidence.
Offer simple sentence frames to help students describe their examples clearly. For example: ‘This scene shows the theme of grief because...’ This supports all learners, especially those who need extra scaffolding.
The Tiger Rising explores key themes such as grief and loss, friendship, and managing emotions. The story follows Rob and Sistine as they each deal with difficult feelings and learn the importance of connection and expressing emotions.
To teach themes from The Tiger Rising, have students identify and illustrate examples of themes like grief, friendship, or feelings. Use storyboards or group discussions to help students connect scenes and characters to these central ideas.
An example of grief and loss in The Tiger Rising is Rob coping with his mother's death. He struggles to express his feelings, which builds up until he finally lets them out, showing how grief affects him throughout the story.
Friendship is crucial in The Tiger Rising because it helps Rob overcome loneliness and gives him hope. His bond with Sistine teaches both characters the value of trust and support during tough times.
Effective activities include creating storyboards to illustrate themes, writing short descriptions of themed examples, and class discussions on character experiences. These methods help students analyze and relate to the book's messages.