RL.5.2: Determine a Theme and Summarize
Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.
The Official Wording
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 5, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What RL.5.2 Means in Plain English
Fifth graders find what a story, play or poem says about life by watching how a character meets a challenge, or how a poem’s speaker reflects on a topic. “Honesty” is a topic, but “owning a mistake takes nerve” is a theme. Then they summarize it.
In 4th grade (RL.4.2) students found a theme from details. Fifth grade says where to look: at how characters respond to challenges and how a speaker reflects. In 6th grade (RL.6.2) students show how particular details carry the theme and keep their opinions out of the summary.
RL.5.2 I Can Statements
- I can state a theme as a full sentence about life.
- I can explain how a character’s response to a challenge shows the theme.
- I can summarize a story in a few sentences without my opinions.
RL.5.2 Worked Example
A character with an easy way out. The theme comes from the choice he makes instead.
The soccer ball bounced once, and the birdbath on Mrs. Alvarez’s lawn split clean in two.Nobody had seen. Dev’s friends were already sprinting for the corner, waving at him to follow.Dev picked up the bigger half. It was heavier than he expected. He walked up her steps and knocked before he could change his mind.Mrs. Alvarez looked at the stone in his hands for a long time. “My husband made that,” she said. Then she opened the door wider. “You’d better come in and help me fix it.”
Common Mistakes with RL.5.2
A one-word theme
“Honesty.”
Try this: Ask “What about honesty?” and accept only a full sentence that would make sense as advice to someone outside the story.
A theme that retells the plot
“Dev breaks a birdbath and tells the truth.”
Try this: Have students cross out every character name in their theme. If the sentence stops making sense, it is still a plot summary.
Opinions in the summary
“Dev was really brave and his friends were mean.”
Try this: Limit the summary to who, the problem, the choice and the result, then cut any word that judges a character.
Where RL.5.2 Fits
Practice RL.5.2
Quick Check
- Why could Dev have gotten away with breaking the birdbath?
- What does Mrs. Alvarez do after Dev knocks?
- Summarize the story in two sentences.