EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Close Reading of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Bullfrog Life Cycle
The sixth lesson plan in this Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle unit assesses your third graders' ability to read and understand informational text. The included assessment asks learners to take notes about the main idea and supporting details...
Curated OER
Finding the Main Idea
Being able to identify the main idea in a text is an essential comprehension skill. After the term is defined, viewers examine a series of paragraphs and are asked to identify the main idea and the supporting details.
Curated OER
What's the Main Idea??
Learners determine how to form a simple topic sentence in order to summarize a reading passage to increase comprehension. They apply the strategy to reading a passage from a textbook by writing a topic sentence for paragraphs about the...
Curated OER
Lesson 2 : First and Last Sentences (Passage)
Remember that old skimming technique, where you'd read the first and last sentence of a paragraph to glean the main idea? That tried and true college trick is taught to third graders as a way to gather information while they read. They...
Curated OER
Writing Organizers
Eight graphic organizers to choose from? That's right! Each of these organizers relates to writing or reading. From narrowing a writing topic, to responding to literature, to planning a writing project, you'll find many purposes for...
Curated OER
Paragraph Unity
Your class can construct a well-written paragraph. They utilize a sequential method which assists them in formulating a concise expository piece. The paragraph must contain a topic sentence, five supporting sentences, and a conclusion.
Curated OER
Top it all off with a Topic Sentence
Students practice the strategy of locating the topic sentence in a paragraph to increase their understanding of text as well as becoming better readers. They view and locate the topic sentence in paragraph 3, page 107, from "All About...
Curated OER
Thesis Statements
Develop an understanding of main ideas and thesis statements with your class by using this step-by-step presentation. The concepts presented will guide learners through essay focus, main idea, central points, coherency, and proper...
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...
Curated OER
Teaching Summarization
Examine the process of summarizing a piece of text using the book So You Want to Be a President? Kids review the definitions for main idea, topic sentences, superordinate terms, and supporting details. Next, they work in small groups to...
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
Terrific Topic Sentences Worksheet #1
For this topic sentence worksheet, students read a text about whale species. Students identify interrogative, declarative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. Students then complete another worksheet in which student read a list of ten...
Curated OER
Georgia CRCT - 7th Grade Language Arts Quiz
Writing conventions are the focus of this standardized practice test. Designed for the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), these fifteen questions address grammar (capitalization, parts of speech, homonyms) and writing...
Curated OER
Only the Facts
Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What is an...
Teachnology
Paragraph Review
Writers are asked to examine four sentences that contain details and craft a topic sentence for a paragraph that encapsulates the main idea.
Nancy Fetzer's Literacy Connections
Expository Paragraph
Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs: to...
Anchorage School District
Writing Effective Summaries
Drafting a strong first sentence for a summary is an important step. Writers can use the formula presented on this handout to get started. The resource lists three steps to put together a strong topic sentence, as well as tips and hints...
Curated OER
Hands on Essays
Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.
Curated OER
Main Idea and Supporting Details
Second graders write topic sentences. In this writing lesson, 2nd graders construct a paragraph consisting of a topic sentence and 2-4 additional sentences. Students analyze their writing and publish a final copy.
Virginia Department of Education
Creating Thesis Sentences
Growing writers explore what it takes to develop and support a thesis statement with pre-fabricated ideas provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Learners take notes on what makes a thesis statement and a topic sentence, and...
Curated OER
The 5 Paragraph Essay
The value in this PowerPoint about the five-paragraph expository essay comes from the clear explanations and specific examples provided to illustrate each aspect; however, a complete, model essay is not included. Beware the typos!
Scholastic
Lesson 3: Essay Organizer
A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic, jotting-down a...
Curated OER
What's the Big Idea?
Learners 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
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...