One fish, two fish, red fish, no fish. Scholars analyze World without Fish to determine the gist, identify vocabulary, and answer text-dependent questions. As learners read, they use sticky notes to annotate the text. They also work...

Then and now. Scholars complete an end of unit assessment covering The Inuit Thought of It by comparing past and modern day life for the Inuit. They complete a main idea graphic organizer, analyze key terms, and write a summary...

Poems For Two Voices are a great resource in any language arts classroom, whether you are studying poetry or not. Focusing on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this lesson prompts young authors to write a Poem For Two...

Examine the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After reading an article from the New York Times and exploring the author's word choice, young readers find the central idea in the text and work on researching...

Readers analyze an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's novel Because of Winn-Dixie. They read silently, and then hear it read aloud. Definitions for underlined vocabulary words are in the margin, and other potentially difficult words...

Now that your class has read all of Esperanza Rising, take the time to tackle big metaphors and themes. Pupils will participate in an activity called Chalk Talk, in which they circulate around the room in small groups and add...

Scholars read chapter two of World without Fish to learn more about the fishing industry. Learners discuss in triads what it means for fishing to become an industry. They then write the gist of pages 28-33 on sticky notes and answer...

There's no I in collaboration! Scholars work in small groups to write a Readers Theater script for a scene from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Next, within their small groups, pupils discuss how their scenes communicate the main...

Scholars wrap up the unit by taking an assessment and reading the informational text "You Trouble" by Justin O'Neill. As they read, they answer multiple-choice questions and complete charts to analyze the main idea and supporting details...

Students identify main idea of passages, reading selections, and cartoons.

Students observe and demonstrate a variety of summarization strategies. They silently read an article from National Geographic Kids, and as a class write a summary that includes the main idea and details and the five W's. Students then...

In this critical thinking worksheet, students fill out a graphic organizer about a story they read including predicting, main idea, values, and more. Students complete 5 sections in the graphic organizer.

Fourth graders locate information to describe what Indians gathered and how they sustained life. They use 5 resources, select a paragraph from each and state the main idea and supporting details.

In this main idea worksheet, students fill out a star graphic organizer about the main idea, movement, location, place, and more for a subject. Students complete 6 spaces.

In this reading comprehension worksheet, learners read a passage and answer questions based on the main idea of the passage. Students answer 4 questions about the passage.

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...

In this graphic organizer worksheet, students record the main idea on one line and the details to support it on three additional lines. These additional lines on the graph make an E.

Students practice reading and math skills using technology.  In this main idea lesson, students retell the important events of A Birthday for Tia in sequence using Kid Pix.  Students create a bar graph using The Graph Club...

In this synthetic elements learning exercise, students read a selection, "Maya Lin's Civil Rights Memorial," then decipher the main ideas. Students are asked to support their main ideas with notes and phrases that prove their...

Third graders identify story elements. For this story elements lesson, 3rd graders look at main idea, characters, point of view, theme and setting. They create a five paneled comic strip from a book.

Students complete activities with the book Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. For this literature lesson, students read chapter one and brainstorm adjectives for the four main characters. They make a page of vocabulary words and...

In this recognizing the main idea worksheet, students read a book, record the title and author, state the main idea, explain what the author wants them to think about the main idea, and tell how they know. Students write five answers.

Young scholars complete activities to learn how to develop story ideas in journalistic writing. In this story ideas instructional activity, students learn news value judging criteria, identify language to ask beat sources for story...

In this comprehension skills instructional activity, students read the book Town Hall and complete comprehension activities. Students complete 5 activities including synthesizing, main idea/details, making inferences, and drawing...