Same Theme, Different Handling is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on identifying what each of two texts does with a shared theme, aligned to Common Core standard RL.5.9. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 21 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
21 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Same Theme, Different Handling
RL.5.9
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
What We Kept
Stanza one:
We kept the table, which was too big,
and the clock, which had never gone,
and a tin of buttons nobody wanted,
and the habit of turning lights off.
Stanza two:
We gave away the good chairs.
We gave away the china, all of it.
We gave away the piano to a school
because none of us could play.
Stanza three:
Ten years on, I would not know the chairs
if I saw them in a window on a street.
But I turn the hall light off behind me
every single time, and think of her.
1. Determine a theme of this poem and support it with details.
2. How is this poem like "The Bell"?
3. How is its ending different from "The Bell"?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Bell
Stanza one:
The church has gone. They took the stone
for walls and gateposts, load by load.
Where the aisle was there is a field.
Where the door was there is a road.
Stanza two:
The bell they could not sell or break.
It hung in a barn for eighty years,
green with the damp, out of the way,
mute as a stone among the gears.
Stanza three:
Last spring they hung it in the school.
It rings at nine and rings at three.
The children do not know its age
and ring it anyway, and it is free.
Stanza four:
So the building went, and the faith went,
and the road runs where the door was cut,
and still the sound the masons heard
goes out at nine, and comes back, and stops.
1. How does its scale differ from "What We Kept"?
2. Determine a theme of this poem and support it with details.
3. How is this poem like "What We Kept"?
LessonPrint · RL.5.9 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Same Theme, Different Handling
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. What we inherit is not the objects — the chairs are forgotten and the light switch is not. 2. Both are about something small — a hall light habit, a bell — that outlasts the household or church it belonged to. 3. "What We Kept" ends with one person turning a hall light off; "The Bell" ends with a school ringing for a whole village.
2.1. This is a village over centuries; that is one family over ten years. 2. A thing can outlive its purpose and find another — the bell rings for a school that does not know its age. 3. Both are about what survives when the thing it belonged to is gone.
Questions about Same Theme, Different Handling
What does the Same Theme, Different Handling worksheet cover?
It practises identifying what each of two texts does with a shared theme — 2 questions for Grade 5, all on Common Core RL.5.9: Compare two stories in one genre on how they treat a theme. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Same Theme, Different Handling practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.9 — RL.5.9, in the Reading: Literature domain for Grade 5. The published standard reads: “Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Same Theme, Different Handling is written for Grade 5, typically ages 10-11. It is one of the sheets on RL.5.9, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Same Theme, Different Handling come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Same Theme, Different Handling can I print?
25 versions, of which 21 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Same Theme, Different Handling free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Same Theme, Different Handling, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for RL.5.9
Compare two stories in one genre on how they treat a theme.