Curated OER
Science and Society: Synthetic Elements
In this synthetic elements worksheet, students read a selection, "Maya Lin's Civil Rights Memorial," then decipher the main ideas. Students are asked to support their main ideas with notes and phrases that prove their understanding of...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Text-Dependent Questions, Main Ideas, and Key Vocabulary about the Bullfrog
As your 3rd grade class finishes reading Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the eighth lesson plan of this unit helps readers from an understanding of the very specific information on the final page of the book. As with the entire unit,...
Curated OER
Summing it all Up...In Your Own Words
Young scholars observe and demonstrate the steps to identifying the main ideas of a text. They listen to the teacher read a paragraph and model the steps of summarizing the main idea. Students then independently read a different...
Curated OER
Reading Discovery
Students investigate literature to discover details and focus upon the main idea to analyze it. They use reading comprehension skills to interpret passages of choice based upon literary importance to the overall meaning. While evaluating...
Curated OER
Let's Find the Main Ideas!
Third graders examine how finding the main ideas and summarizing increases their reading comprehension. They read "The Sea in Danger" while applying the six rules of summarization in a modeled lesson. Next, working in small groups, they...
Curated OER
What's the Main Idea?
Fourth graders comprehend what they are reading. An effective strategy for comprehension is summarization. They single out and explaining the main ideas of a passage. Students find a sentence or rewrite their own that covers...
Curated OER
Paragraph Construction
What is a paragraph? This question drives the PowerPoint. Viewers discuss important elements of a solid paragraph, transitions between paragraphs, and strategies for editing. Show this presentation and then look at an example paragraph...
Curated OER
Outlining Main Ideas and Details
Begin at the end. Present your class with an expository essay and ask them to create an outline of the article, paying particular attention to the main ideas and the details supporting these ideas. After a discussion of what they have...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Mannerly Writing
Writers draft paragraphs comparing and contrasting the author's viewpoint in two poems. They also discuss the differences between an informational text and a poem regarding manners. Rubric and assessment are provided.
University of North Carolina
Style
Just like you choose your clothes to ensure they fit the occasion, you should choose your words deliberately while writing. Style, the main topic of one handout in a series on writing skills, involves choosing words carefully and paying...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Sharing Board
In this nonfiction sharing board worksheet, learners complete questions about the books main idea, vocabulary, facts, connections. Students also graph information from the book, go beyond the text, and evaluate how they felt about the...
Curated OER
BBC Learning English, Writing (Culture)
Include this writing worksheet in your lesson about essay organization. After anwering five questions regarding their culture, middle schoolers use their responses to form the basis of a five paragraph guide to their culture. Each...
Curated OER
Goodnight Goon
Students identify fictional story elements. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read the book Goodnight Goon, which is a parody of Goodnight Moon, and discuss the story elements. Students use an included worksheet to record...
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Habitat Hunt
Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. In this main idea instructional activity, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat...
Curated OER
Help With Paragraphs: Writing A Paragraph
Young scholars complete exercises to practice writing a paragraph. In this paragraph writing lesson plan, learners work in pairs to complete activities that require them to read sample paragraphs, organize sentences in sequence, and...
Curated OER
What's the Point?
Students identify the components of a political cartoon and formulate the main ideas.
Curated OER
Character Sketch
Students view a PowerPoint presentation about Character sketches, and write a four paragraph character sketch. Emphasis is placed on topic sentences having one main idea per paragraph and elaborating. They study and discuss ways to write...
Curated OER
Writing a Summary
Skim, reread, and then take notes. The step-by-step procedure outlined in this resource can be used to help pupils write a summary of a reading passage. Using their notes, class members then draft a summary focusing on the main idea and...
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Analyzing Poetry with TPCASTT
Middle schoolers read a poem and complete a TPCASTT chart. They make a prediction about the title (T) , paraphrase each line (P), identify poetic devices and nuances (C-connotation), explore mood and tone (A-attitude), point out shifts...
Curated OER
Organizing Ideas
Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The lesson is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various strategies that...
Curated OER
Animal Farm Chapter One Summary
For this Animal Farm chapter one worksheet, students state the main idea of the chapter. The worksheet asks that the student summary includes title, author, topic, main idea, and quotations. In addition, students paraphrase the chapter...
Curated OER
The Clause That Refreshes
Students define specialized terminology involving parts of speech. They identify main and subordinate clauses and create complex sentences. They edit and revise writing to incorporate complex sentences and identify parts of speech...
Curated OER
Let's Get the Facts!
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarization. They discuss the three steps of summarization, then silently read a National Geographic Kids News article. As a class they complete a semantic map of the article, and write...