EngageNY
Determining Main Ideas and Details to Write a Summary Paragraph: “Food”
Let's eat! Scholars read pages 24-25 of The Inuit Thought of It to discover the foods eaten by the Inuit. They sketch a visual gist of the section in their journals and write a summary paragraph about the text.
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Writing the Essay
Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...
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Writing Structure and Paragraph Lesson
Students review the correct form for writing paragraphs. In this paragraph writing instructional activity, students rewrite a poorly written opening sentence. Students make changes to a closing paragraph. Students write a plan for an...
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What Was That All About?
Through direct instruction, the teacher demonstrates how to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text when creating a summary. As a class, read a paragraph, highlighting relevant information and crossing out extraneous...
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Building Background Knowledge: The Boy Who Invented TV, “Life before Philo”
Walk through the pictures to understand the text. Scholars analyze The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of
Philo Farnsworth by taking a book walk and looking at the pictures. They then do a first read of Life before Philo to determine the...
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Main Idea in Informational Text
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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End of Unit Assessment: “The Inuit Today”
Then and now. Scholars complete an end of unit assessment covering The Inuit Thought of It by comparing past and modern day life for the Inuit. They complete a main idea graphic organizer, analyze key terms, and write a summary paragraph.
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Using Color as a Pre-Writing Tool
To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day lesson with suggested assessments.
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Transition Words in Writing
Transition words in writing are the focus of the language arts lesson presented here. In it, learners cut out the word-sort cards (embedded in the plan), and put them into four categories: time, examples, space, and summary. They find a...
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Chunks, Chunks, And More Chunks!
Students summarize a selected piece of text nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for summarizing, students read a nonfiction article, highlighting important information as they read. They write a summary paragraph using the five...
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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...
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Writing Fiction lesson plan
Students compose a opening paragraph that sets the scene and foreshadows events. In this writing fiction lesson, students write an opening paragraph about a mugging and describe the scene in a way that foreshadows something bad is...
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Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
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Writing: Stay High and Dry
Students write an effective conclusion for their essay. In this conclusion instructional activity students restate the thesis of their paper and summarize three important points. Students then write a final statement to wrap up their...
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Writing A Review
Students determine the elements of a review. In this writing lesson, students investigate the parts necessary for a critic to write a review. Students write their own review based on a film or production they have recently seen.
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Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language
Incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. First, elementary and middle schoolers improve a piece of writing by using precise, vivid language, as well as appropriate word choice. They then listen to a variety of...
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Ant Writing
Students become effective writers. They need to practice strategies for working through the writing process. By presenting the students with a creative problem, they must choose a position and support it accordingly.
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Pumpkin Patch Fun!
Young scholars research a website to find out about pumpkins. For this pumpkins lesson plan, students research the site, make a review sheet for another group to complete, draw a pumpkin, and write a summary about their learnings.
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Great Basin Tribes- Use of Land for Sustenance
Young scholars explore four Native American tribes from Nevada. In this Native American history instructional activity, students identify and generate important corresponding attributes of the Southern Paiute, Northern Paiute, Washoe,...
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Magical Creatures
Students investigate entertaining characters within stories. For this writing lesson, students review nouns and adjectives and discuss magical characters. Students ask themselves questions about their selected characters and write a...
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Summarize This!
Learners explore how to summarize a reading passage. They read non-fiction books. Students use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two animals they read about. They write a summary using the information in their Venn Diagram.
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Research/Technical Writing: Paraphrasing
Students work in groups to paraphrase an article. In this paraphrasing lesson, each group is assigned a paragraph to paraphrase in one sentence. Other groups critique the sentences to make sure each is effective. When the sentences...
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"Write-a-Letter-to-the-Teacher" Book Report
Students practice writing a friendly letter to the teacher as a method of reviewing a book. They write a three paragraph report on a book that they read in friendly letter format.
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Sum It Up
After a review of the steps involved in writing a summary, class members read The Physics of Baseball by Sarah Ives and use a story web to identify the important details to include in their summary. Class members then choose an article...