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Worksheet
Curated OER

Find the Main Idea

For Students 6th - 8th
It's important for learners to be able to identify the main point in an article, paper, or essay. Start by having them identify the main idea in a short paragraph. There are three short paragraphs (each with four multiple choice options)...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Identifying the Main Idea in Fiction

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Discovering the main idea in fiction is like uncovering buried treasure; one must persevere to locate it, and the reward is priceless. Scholars delve deep into leveled stories using three questions to aid in identifying the main idea. 
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Organizer
3
3
Polk Bros Foundation

I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The worksheet is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Determining Main Idea Using Text and Illustrations: Accessing Books Around the World

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Ease into informational text with the lesson suggested here. Part of a unit series, the lesson draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one section of My Librarian is a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Best Main Idea

For Teachers K - 4th Standards
What is the main idea? Interest your young readers with this fun introductory lesson! After selecting several items from a paper bag, the teacher leads learners to determine the big idea for those items. This concept is then applied to...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 12

For Teachers 9th Standards
As the first in a two-part, end-of-unit assessment that encourages readers to synthesize the unit's main ideas, class members review their notes for each of the three texts they read and develop three open-ended discussion questions...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Main Idea/Detail Relay

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders discuss the difference between main ideas and supporting details. They use large placement cards made by the teacher with main idea and supporting detail statements on them to practice.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Finding the Main Idea: The Storm

For Students 1st - 2nd
Readers analyze a brief excerpt describing a storm, then choose the most applicable from four main ideas. They jot down three details from the story in three boxes. The excerpt isn't anything special; however, for a quick practice with...
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Activity
Florida Center for Reading Research

Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, Simple Summary

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd Standards
Can your class sum up a text in a few sentences? Help them build this skill by starting nice and slow. For this summarizing activity, the teacher marks the main ideas with sticky notes. Learners read and reread the text, pausing at the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reintroduce: Main Idea

For Teachers K - 3rd
What would a main idea be without important details? Readers use a graphic organizer to record key details from an informational text (a fiction text would also work). Review main idea as a concept before beginning, asking scholars to...
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PPT
1
1
Olathe Public Schools

Topic, Main Idea, Supporting Detail, and Theme

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Get your class members thinking about a reading passage's topic, main idea, supporting details, and theme with this interactive presentation that asks scholars to define, locate, and review each term.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: Jigsaw to Build and Share Expertise about the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Part 2

For Teachers 5th Standards
Calling all experts! Using the educational resource, pupils work together in small expert groups, reading an article about the 2010 Haiti earthquake. As they read, they record two main ideas and supporting details from the text.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Guided Reading: Main Idea

For Teachers K - 4th
Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...
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PPT
Curated OER

Recognizing the Main Idea

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Understanding that paragraphs have a main idea expressed in a topic sentence, followed by supporting details in the subsequent sentences is the focus of this presentation. Students practice by reading short paragraphs in 10 slides, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Main Idea in Informational Text

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identify Main Idea in a Story

For Teachers K
Help your kindergarteners identify the main idea in a story. Small groups work with the teacher to make predictions and draw conclusions. They are able to determine cause and effect relationships. The lesson is divided into several days,...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Waiting for the Biblioburro: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Expose your class to Waiting for the Biblioburro, narrative nonfiction that will act as the bridge between ficiton and informational texts to come. Class members do a close reading of the text, looking at excerpts instead of the whole...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hands-On Outlining

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Achieve3000

Listening for Main Idea and Supporting Details

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Did you hear that? It's the main idea! Teach your class listening and note-taking strategies for determining the main idea by following the steps provided in this plan.
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Handout
Santiago Canyon College

Taking Notes for Science Class

For Students 5th - 12th Standards
Provide young scholars with the tools they need to succeed with this reference on the Cornell note-taking strategy. By breaking the content of lessons into main ideas, supporting details, and overall summaries, students are able to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce: Comprehension Monitoring using About Trees

For Teachers K - 3rd
As scholars begin reading more difficult text, they need to acquire an arsenal of comprehension strategies. Here are few helpful ones to guide new readers through the informational text About Trees, which is linked here for printing....
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Introducing Close Reading: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes About Rain School

For Teachers 3rd Standards
This second lesson in a larger unit is perfect for the beginning of the year because it explicitly teaches 3rd graders how to use close reading skills by identifying unfamiliar words, figuring out the gist, and defining important...
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Organizer
1
1
Polk Bros Foundation

Meet the Nonfiction Main Idea Challenge

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Help your class develop the ability to determine a main idea with a packet of materials that you can introduce and use over a period of time. The packet includes some information for the teacher and rationale for the exercises. There are...

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