Supporting Details Lesson Plans

Fourth graders read and analyze a short story about how the months of the year got their names, and identify the significant and supporting details in the story. With a partner they read the story and answer story comprehension questions and complete a worksheet. Students then create a banner displaying their "quality characteristics."

Engage your class in a scavenger hunt to find the main ideas and supporting details in a text. They follow the teacher while s/he models how to determine main idea and find supporting details, then they work independently. A fun way to teach an important skill.

Students investigate the use of supporting details in expository texts. In this supporting details lesson, students read example paragraphs and identify the supporting details.

Learners review main ideas and supporting details in paragraphs. They read a passage about musical instruments which the teacher must access from the resources. Finally, students design a hanging mobile about musical instruments using information from the reading.

Review skills listed on the board to help learners with decoding skills. Then, read a short story about string instruments, skimming sentence by sentence and circling all unknown words. Next, they focus on the main idea and naming the supporting details and determine what the passage is mostly about. The passage is not included, however any text could be substituted, informational or fictional.

Students identify main idea and supporting details from a short reading selection using a two-column note taking process. In this literacy lesson, students work in groups of three to four, then compare their papers with the other groups' papers.

Eighth graders identify the main idea and supporting details in paragraphs. In this language arts lesson, 8th graders review organizational patterns in paragraphs and determine which pattern is best for a given situation. Individually, students write a short paragraph describing who they will invite to a party and share their story with the class. They summarize the main idea and supporting details of their paragraph.

Students compare real events of Mark Twain's life to events of the story. They identify point-of-view, its purpose, and reliability by citing two examples. They describe the tone of the story using four examples and identify irony using three examples. They describe the use of social class and values, money, and clothing as symbols with at least two supporting details.

Identify the main idea and the supporting details of a story in this literacy lesson from Discovery Education. Complete with procedures, vocabulary, and assessment activities, the lesson is a great way for young scholars to practice their outlining skills. A DVD is available from the main site to guide the lesson through each step.

Individuals complete a pre-assessment of their ability of determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine new piece of nonfiction reading by looking the table of contents, headings, and index before using a table diagram to record the main idea and supporting details. Using the information from the table, they write a paragraph about the reading.