https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/5th-grade-reading-and-vocab/xb350e60168d6e96f:key-ideas-and-details-5/xb350e60168d6e96f:determining-theme-5/v/g4-summarizing-swbst 2025-06-24T18:30:47.167909514Z Summarizing a story with SWBST Have you ever struggled to summarize a story? Well, friends, I'm coming to you today with a sensational new thought technology, and by Jove, has it ever got a catchy name. It's... SWBST. Okay, maybe not the easiest to say aloud, but it's a very useful tool to summarize what happens in a story! SWBST stands for: Someone Wanted But So Then David Rheinstrom video https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka_thumbnails_cache/8c80fcaa-6bb3-4e22-9b31-d02b300a7a4d_1280_720_base.png Summarizing a story with SWBST Have you ever struggled to summarize a story? Well, friends, I'm coming to you today with a sensational new thought technology, and by Jove, has it ever got a catchy name. It's... SWBST. Okay, maybe not the easiest to say aloud, but it's a very useful tool to summarize what happens in a story! SWBST stands for: Someone Wanted But So Then https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-youtube-converted/6oPWYnYJWZs.mp4/6oPWYnYJWZs.mp4 171 Determining theme and summarizing a story https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/9th-grade-reading-vocabulary-indiana/x068d7167a2598a90:bridging-the-gap-9-indiana/x068d7167a2598a90:analyzing-themes-9-indiana/v/developing-themes-reading 2025-12-15T14:50:47.456136967Z Developing themes Authors build themes in stories using symbols, settings, dialogue, and actions. Themes link big ideas to the actions in the story. To find themes, readers can look for repeated symbols, how settings affect characters, dialogue that mentions similar ideas, and important character decisions. Want to take notes on this video? Use this [Notes Organizer](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vt5uGrpM75qaKVotjdKPpu5hjjPDb5UgkZu8eqENhbs/copy)! David Rheinstrom video https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka_thumbnails_cache/f9a248d6-e754-4e71-9de4-00f89fcf6a75_1280_720_base.png Developing themes Authors build themes in stories using symbols, settings, dialogue, and actions. Themes link big ideas to the actions in the story. To find themes, readers can look for repeated symbols, how settings affect characters, dialogue that mentions similar ideas, and important character decisions. Want to take notes on this video? Use this [Notes Organizer](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vt5uGrpM75qaKVotjdKPpu5hjjPDb5UgkZu8eqENhbs/copy)! https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-youtube-converted/D2FFijvA00I.mp4/D2FFijvA00I.mp4 331 Determining theme and summarizing a story https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/5th-grade-reading-and-vocab/xb350e60168d6e96f:key-ideas-and-details-5/xb350e60168d6e96f:determining-theme-5/a/analyzing-character-change-to-find-the-theme-of-a-story-5th 2026-05-21T11:40:40.471298507Z Analyzing character change to find the theme of a story | Guided practice Learn how you can determine a story's theme by analyzing how the main characters changes or grows. article https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/5th-grade-reading-and-vocab/xb350e60168d6e96f:key-ideas-and-details-5/xb350e60168d6e96f:determining-theme-5/e/theme-5 2026-05-21T11:40:40.471298507Z Theme Practice theme Hannah Chorley exercise