Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The activity is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
K12 Reader
Major Art Periods
After examining a brief article about the major art periods, readers use the provided graphic organizer to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the paragraph.
K12 Reader
The Mississippi River
After examining a short passage about the Mississippi River system, readers use the provided graphic organizer to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the article.
K12 Reader
The Magna Carta
A passage about the Magna Carta provides readers with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in an article.
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
Achievement Strategies
Fishbone for Main Ideas and Details
A key reading comprehension skill is the ability to identify the main idea and supporting details used in a passage of informational text. Here's a template that encourages young readers to practice this skill. They list the who, what,...
K20 LEARN
Summarizing and Sorting Details from an Informational Text: Identifying the Main Idea
Scholars participate in two activities that teach them to identify the main idea and key supporting details in informational text. Partners create a visual that reflects the main idea and key supporting details in an informational text...
Clever Student Training Company
Analyzing the Essay
The skill set required of readers of informational text includes the ability to identify an article’s thesis or main idea, as well as the supporting points. Learners can practice these skills by analyzing an essay about the treatment of...
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Curated OER
“Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Readers not only identify aphorisms in Emerson's "Self Reliance," but also find evidence of transcendental elements contained in the essay. They also demonstrate consistency...
Curated OER
Two Truths and a Lie: Internet Research Skills
It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They then...
Curated OER
Race and Crime in the United States: Are We Victims of Discrimination or Antiheroes?
Using methods adopted by Public Policy Analysts (PPA) class groups define a social problem, gather evidence to document the existence of the problem, identify causes, evaluate existing policies designed to deal with the problem, develop...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3
Make analyzing the sequence of events in an informational text easy. Ask readers to craft a one-sentence summary of each paragraph in a document and create a text map. To demonstrate their understanding of the process, participants read...
College Board
Reading—Synthesis and Paired Passages
Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson,...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Literacy Criticism
As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...