Dolphins are the focus of a short comprehension exercise that asks readers to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the passage.

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.

Using a paragraph from Jack London's Call of the Wild, readers demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a passage.

A passage about solar eclipses provides readers with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in an article.

Readers are asked to identify the central idea and two supporting details that develop this main idea in an article about the apprentice system popular in colonial America. 

Select an article that explores people of another culture. After reading it as a class, distribute copies of this worksheet. It asks for a brief summary, encourages readers to make text-to-self connections, and asks learners to identify...

Quite often, learners confuse the main idea in a selection of reading with the supporting details. In this lesson plan, pupils practice the skill of finding the main idea and the supporting details in pieces of writing. Newspaper...

Spots the barn cat is the subject of this colorful worksheet. Young learners demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea in a written passage by reading a short passage about Spots and responding to the prompt asking them to...

An excerpt from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea provides learners with an opportunity to practice their ability to identify the main idea and supporting details in a passage. The beautifully illustrated activity also has an...

Summarizing a text means being able to identify supporting details. Your class can learn about transportation workers in Chicago as they read a one-page informational passage. When they are finished reading they'll explain what they've...

Reading is fantastic, especially when it's reading about bullfrogs. Kids get cozy with predator/prey relationships as they hone their information-reading skills. They start out as they read a portion of the text aloud, then they...

As part of a group of lessons, your class will return to the primary text for this unit, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Key vocabulary as well as close reading strategies continue to be the focus skills; however, this lesson...

Students identify the main ideas from expository text. In this main ideas lesson plan, students read a piece of text and practice identifying what is most important. Students complete another sample reading with a group then discuss as a...

Discuss the concept of main idea in a story or other reading material. Middle schoolers identify the main idea in a passage using a technique that eliminates unnecessary words not relevant to the main idea.

Bring the imagery of the desert to your classroom with this ELL lesson plan. After reading Madeleine Dunphy’s Here in the Southwestern Desert, learners complete a graphic organizer about the features and images of the poem. The...

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is read aloud to young readers, and the story is discussed. Then, the lesson goes into how to build up one's reading stamina. The class brainstorms ways that they can build up their stamina such as: staying...

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...

Get your pupils thinking about some of the big ideas present in Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson with this anticipation guide. Learners decided if they believe a series of statements are true or false. A discussion follows.

Learners research and identify story ideas for the school newspaper. In this story ideas lesson plan, students pitch story ideas to their teacher on a weekly basis using a specific format. Learners find the majority of their ideas from...

Children in first grade listen and read along with the teacher to practice main idea identification. They use the provided reading passages to read, locate the main idea and supporting details. This is a fully scripted lesson which means...

This is a great way to review the concept of main idea and supporting details with younger learners. Learners read two short passages and identify the main idea and supporting details using visual prompts and a graphic organizer.

Need a quick assessment of your middle schoolers' reading comprehension skills? The four questions on this quiz ask readers to identify the likely source of the article, define words based on context, and identify the main idea of the...

In the first lesson plan of this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders gain background knowledge of different jobs performed by early colonists. The class begins with a slide show presentation that includes a variety of great...

Practice comprehension skills using the story, The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon by Bea Uusma Schyffert. Learners answer questions, fill out graphic organizers, and engage in extension activities involving writing and...