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Reintroduce: Main Idea
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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Build Mastery: Main Idea
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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Determining Ideas and Adding Details
A handy TFDC (topic/fact/detail/conclusion) graphic organizer (included) allows young writers to outline and record their main ideas and supporting details in the prewriting phase. They then continue to add details to the topic sentences...
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Topic Sentence
Students write a topic sentence to a paragraph and explain that it introduces the main idea. After a whole-class demonstration, students write a complete paragraph with their topic sentence and supporting sentences. There are some...
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Story Elements that Support the Theme
Three great graphic organizers guide readers to see how the elements of plot and main idea can be charted to reveal the theme of a story. Model the process on the provided Direct Teaching Teacher Graphic Organizer using Aesop’s The...
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Introduce: Comprehension Monitoring using About Trees
As scholars begin reading more difficult text, they need to acquire an arsenal of comprehension strategies. Here are few helpful ones to guide new readers through the informational text About Trees, which is linked here for printing....
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Using Details From The Text
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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Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics
Is trickery ever justified? Is it okay to steal from someone who has stolen from you? Puss, from Puss in Boots, and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, might have some ideas about these ethical questions. After listening to a series of...
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Graphic Organizers
Students complete graphic organizers. In this graphic organizer lesson plan, students fill out various graphic organizers in order to better understand a comprehension skill. Eighteen graphic organizers are included.
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The Main Man
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...
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Captioning the Civil Rights Movement: Reading the Images, Writing the Words
Scholars boost their knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement with a lesson that challenges writers, readers, and historians to analyze primary sources and caption their observations. By way of reading, writing, discussion, independently,...
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Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One...
Explore language arts by reading two similar stories in order to compare and contrast them in class. Young readers read two Aunt Isabel books, by Kate Duke, and discuss the main characters, plot, and setting. They complete a graphic...
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The Life of George Washington Carver
Second graders investigate historic Americans by researching George Washington Carver. In this famous American biography lesson, 2nd graders complete graphic organizers about George Washington Carver's life while researching the...
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Plus, Minus and Interesting
Students identify the main ideas or topics of a lesson or unit using the plus, minus and interesting graphic organizer. In this main idea or topic lesson, students examine the use of the PMI graphic organizer. They describe the item they...
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Writing Process
Introduce primary graders to the writing process. After reviewing the steps, they practice using the process by writing a book report. Before writing the draft, they complete a graphic organizer. The completed draft is reviewed by peers....
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Writing Process- Narrative Writing
Graphic organizers are a wonderful tool for young writers to use to help them get their thoughts in order for a piece of writing. Here, learners are coached on what a piece of narrative writing is, and how they must have a distinct...
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Scrapbook of Evidence
Students read three different genres of fiction. They create a story map and brainstorm possible collage inclusions. Each student prepares a minimum of two scrapbook page entries for each text or passage. Students write beside each...
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Introducing Literary Elements in Fiction
Identify literary elements in fiction. In this reading comprehension lesson, learners read the book Pigsty and record literary elements onto a graphic organizer. They specifically discuss the main characters and events in the text.
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Let Me Tell You About My Favorite Animal
Students create books about their favorite animals using graphic organizers.
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Nursery Rhymes
Students recall details of nursery rhyme read by teacher, identify main characters, and demonstrate knowledge of poem by creating concept map about story that includes title, clip art, and changes in font and color.
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Descriptive Writing Using the Book Rumpelstiltskin
Use the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to teach your third grade class about descriptive writing. Following a teacher read-aloud of the story, the class brainstorms a list of adjectives describing the main character. Students use this list...
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Animals in Inspiration
Students research information on a specific animal. In this animal lesson, students use books to find information about an animals diet, habitat, appearance, and any other interesting facts. Students will use this information to create a...
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To Sum It All Up...
Students one main goal when reading is to comprehend, and one strategy to improve reading comprehension is summarization. As students begin reading expository texts, it is vital for them to be able to pick out and summarize the main...
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Narrative Prompt
Second graders are introduced to the style of a narrative writing. After being read a story, they use a graphic organizer to plan their writing. With a partner, they share their ideas and decide on one topic to write about. To end the...