Main Idea Lesson Plans

Students study the elements of the mystery genre. They explore strategies of the pre-writing stage of the writing process and organize writing process outlines. They explore graphic organizers, specifically concept maps, as tools to capture and organize ideas.

Students explore visualizing stories by completing a graphic organizer. In this reading strategy lesson, students read the story Pecos Bill by Steven Kellog and identify the setting, main characters and their interpretations. Students read a separate story in class and complete a graphic organizer which allows the student to compare and contrast their story to Pecos Bill.

Students research Pluto. In this research lesson, students use graphic organizers to record information found during research. Students research the question "Is Pluto a Planet?" and record their data on a graphic organizer. Students then use the information to write a paragraph.

Practice outlining and evaluating expository writing in this lesson. After discussing main ideas and seeing examples, young writers go through a sample outline and discuss things that fit and things that don't. They then create their own outline of a magazine article and compare their work to their peers.

Sixth graders use graphic organizers as pre-writing aides. In this graphic organizer lesson, 6th graders complete pre and post-assessments, review types of graphic organizers, and use one to write a paragraph. They work as a group to determine the best way to organize their ideas about chocolate before applying the strategies to write a paragraph about ice cream.

In this reading comprehension lesson, 5th graders read a passage from an article about an octopus. Students practice organizing informational texts by filling out a graphic organizer with boxes and bullets. Students determine the main ideas from the text and document them on the chart. Students discuss with a partner the details uncovered from the text.

Using The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow, first graders practice identifying the main idea of a story. They discuss the main idea of a magazine picture, complete graphic organizers for both books, and create a class slideshow of main ideas of their favorite classroom book. 

Practice finding word meaning through context clues in a piece of informational text. The first part of the activity focuses on the "silent -e" rule, and on prefixes and suffixes. After this part, eighth graders read a magazine article and fill in a graphic organizer that identifies the main idea before writing a summary after discussing primary and secondary sources. 

Young scholars use reading and writing strategies to explain informational text in science. They create and use different types of graphic organizers to understand, interpret, and analyze informational text.

Students investigate how to use graphic organizers. In this literary elements instructional activity, students are introduced to several types of graphic organizers and their purpose. Students read a book of their choice and complete a graphic organizer to identify literary elements.