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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Find the Main Idea: The Meerkat

For Students 2nd - 3rd Standards
After examining a short article about African meerkats, readers identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the paragraph.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Finding the Main Idea

For Students 1st - 2nd
The carnival is in town! After reading a short excerpt about a day at the carnival, learners use details to determine the story's main idea. They must differentiate the details from the big picture, as there are multiple options they can...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Best Main Idea

For Teachers K - 4th Standards
What is the main idea? Interest your young readers with this fun introductory lesson! After selecting several items from a paper bag, the teacher leads learners to determine the big idea for those items. This concept is then applied to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reintroduce: Main Idea

For Teachers K - 3rd
What would a main idea be without important details? Readers use a graphic organizer to record key details from an informational text (a fiction text would also work). Review main idea as a concept before beginning, asking scholars to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce: Main Idea

For Teachers K - 3rd
Begin exploring main idea in a text by telling the class an interesting story. Can they recall the main idea after you finish? What clues told them this was it? Explain that you will apply this concept as you read a nonfiction book....
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Lesson Plan
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For the Teachers

Main Idea Outline

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build Mastery: Main Idea

For Teachers K - 4th
Use a graphic organizer to get readers thinking about main ideas as they record the who, what, where, when, and why of a story. Consider modeling this process completely before kids do this independently. They fill in five boxes charting...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Finding Main Ideas

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Elementary schoolers read paragraphs one at a time in order to pick out the main ideas. They choose which sentences are most important in a paragraph. This type of exercise prepares learners to identify the main idea in longer narratives.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Finding the Main Idea: The Storm

For Students 1st - 2nd
Readers analyze a brief excerpt describing a storm, then choose the most applicable from four main ideas. They jot down three details from the story in three boxes. The excerpt isn't anything special; however, for a quick practice with...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Main Idea

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this main idea worksheet, students answer ten multiple choice questions about finding the main idea and supporting details.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Main Idea

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this main idea worksheet, students read about main idea and then match main ideas to topics. Students match 10 main ideas to their topics.
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Anne of Green Gables

For Students 2nd - 5th
A passage from Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables provides young readers with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a paragraph.
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

The Jungle Book

For Students 2nd - 3rd Standards
Young readers complete a graphic organizer identifying the main idea and the supporting ideas in a passage taken from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Better Class of Journal-ists

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Young academics create a current events journal by skimming newspapers for articles that fit defined guidelines for informational texts. After cutting out two articles each week to add to their journals, they write a brief description of...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Main Idea Practice

For Students 2nd - 4th
For this main idea worksheet, students write main idea sentences for the pictures that are given to them. Students write 8 main idea sentences for 8 pictures.
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Planets

For Students 2nd - 5th Standards
Readers are asked to identify the main ideas and supporting ideas in a passage about the eight planets in our solar system. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's in a Main Idea?

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders read newspaper articles. In this language arts lesson, 2nd graders identify the main ideas found in the articles by highlighting them. The entire class selects one interesting article from the sports section to discuss.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Chapter Title

For Teachers 2nd Standards
Second graders identify the main idea of a selection of text. In this creating a chapter title lesson, 2nd graders discuss how to find the main idea of a chapter, listen to a chapter read aloud, and create a title with explanation. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Face to Face Summary!

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students, while in the computer lab visiting the National Geographic Kids website, fill out a checklist of unimportant/redundant information, look for important events and ideas and search for the author's main idea and supporting...
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Activity
Harper Collins

Beverly Cleary Memory Game

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Where is Henry Huggins? Class members craft playing cards for a memory game. One side features a description or an illustration of a memorable scene, the title of the book and the names of major characters, or a description about the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Details From The Text

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Begin this expository writing activity by reading a non-fiction book of your choice and modeling expository writing. The plan suggests The Trip of a Drip by Vicki Cobb but notes that other texts will work. Learners then choose a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Drama: The New Friends

For Teachers 2nd
Reader's Theater is a great way to build fluency, intonation, and dramatic flare. The class reads the theater piece, "The New Friends" paying attention to how they express emotion and feeling as they read. They discuss the use of plot,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Short and Sweet

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Young scholars explore how to summarize a text while reading. They discuss what it means to summarize. Students read a non-fiction text and practice summarizing the pages they read. They highlight the main ideas and important details...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Key Sentences

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this key sentences worksheet, students read the sentences and select the key sentence for each example and the main idea.

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