Curated OER
Outlining Main Ideas and Details
Begin at the end. Present your class with an expository essay and ask them to create an outline of the article, paying particular attention to the main ideas and the details supporting these ideas. After a discussion of what they have...
Curated OER
What's the Big Idea?
Students choose a paragraph from a book of their choice, identify the main idea, and draw an illustration of the main idea. They write original paragraphs, illustrate them, and trade with a partner, identifying the main idea of the...
Curated OER
Plain Polly: Adding Relevant Details
Students use a stick figure to help them learn to write with details. In this details lesson, students brainstorm details to add to the stick figure 'Plain Polly.' Students then draw stick figures for their own writing and give them a...
Curated OER
The Main Idea
In this writing paragraphs worksheet, students review the importance of a clear main idea within a paragraph. Students practice defining a clear main idea by using the ideas in the idea box and matching them with the list of points and...
Curated OER
Using Details From The Text
Begin this expository writing activity by reading a non-fiction book of your choice and modeling expository writing. The plan suggests The Trip of a Drip by Vicki Cobb but notes that other texts will work. Learners then choose a...
Curated OER
Catch those Butterfly Facts!
Discuss the importance of comprehension and the use of summarization with your class. Through guided practice, they follow three steps in finding and highlighting important information, deleting information that is not needed and...
Curated OER
Shorten the Length
Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...
Curated OER
Paragraph Structure
Make sure your writers have the buns and the meat in their paragraph burgers with paragraph exercises. The resource gradually leads up to individuals writing their own paragraphs, starting with identification exercises, moving on to a...
Curriculum Corner
Be the Expert Writing Activity
With the help of a prewriting activity, scholars reserach a topic and compose an expository essay to show what they know about a topic of their choice.
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 15: Theme
Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 1
Make a study of the First Amendment and its relationship to freedom. Pupils rewrite the amendment and discuss the central idea before focusing on a specific phrase. After discussing, class members write a journal entry about the included...
EngageNY
Ratios and Unit Rates
This turn-key unit on ratios and unit rates walks through a 30-lesson unit on teaching proportional reasoning, with each lesson broken into detailed teaching notes and time allotments for all parts. An unbelievable resource when taken...
Curated OER
Summarization Mapping
Students observe and demonstrate the strategy of summarizing the main idea. They discuss six rules of summarizing, and observe the teacher summarizing the first chapter of the novel "The Incredible Journey." Students then read chapter...
Curated OER
Hands-On Outlining
In order to write an effective outline, children must be able to identify main ideas and supporting details, which is the aim of this fun and kinesthetic activity. The class works on the floor to organize sentence strips prepared by the...
Curated OER
Paragraph Building
Build the skills your budding authors need to develop to compose well-structured paragraphs. Give them the topic sheet (included here), and have them write a cohesive paragraph using the ideas listed. Consider having them include two...
Curated OER
Goodnight Goon
Students identify fictional story elements. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read the book Goodnight Goon, which is a parody of Goodnight Moon, and discuss the story elements. Students use an included worksheet to record...
CC Homestead
Summarize
Designed for third graders but appropriate for older learners as well, this packet of materials underscores the necessity of teaching kids how to summarize, how to identify main ideas and supporting details, and how to ask questions...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Listening for Main Ideas and Supporting Details
Pay attention! Scholars view the video"Why College Students Should Start Paying Attention to Water" multiple times to complete a note catcher. After discussing their thoughts with the class, learners watch "The Water Crisis Isn’t...
EngageNY
Identifying Main Ideas and Supporting Details: What’s Going On in the Teenage Brain?
What's going on in the teen brain? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading an informational article about the topic. While reading, they use a Thinking Log worksheet and an anchor chart to track their understanding of...
Curated OER
Summing it all Up...In Your Own Words
Students observe and demonstrate the steps to identifying the main ideas of a text. They listen to the teacher read a paragraph and model the steps of summarizing the main idea. Students then independently read a different paragraph...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Answering Text-Dependent Questions About Librarians and Organizations Around the World
This is a skills-based assessment that asks test takers to use textual evidence to determine the main idea of an excerpt from an informational text as well as respond to text-dependent questions. The assessment is the middle point...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel: How Do People Access Books Around the World?
Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...
William E.B. DuBois Elementary
Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer
Take your pick of 16 graphic organizers, all designed for persuasive writing. Some provide space to prepare an entire essay or speech, while others provide space for brainstorming and organizing ideas before settling on concrete ideas...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...