Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Readers identify main ideas and supporting details using informational texts. In this literacy lesson, they make predictions and read the text to find the main ideas. They use a table diagram to define the main idea and supporting...
Curated OER
Using Details from the Text
Explore non-fiction comprehension strategies with your class. They will visualize daily activities and label a 4 circle Venn diagram with related phrases. They must identify the overlapping sections as "main ideas," then complete a...
Curated OER
Determine the Main Idea
Learners identify the main idea of a reading passage. For this identifying the main idea lesson, students read short passages, highlight or underline important information and record the main idea of the passage. They participate in a...
Curated OER
Identifying Main Idea
Students locate the main idea in a nonfiction text. In this language arts lesson, students participate in a think aloud to locate the main idea of the story. Additionally, students respond to a text and locate the main idea and complete...
Curated OER
Space Food
What do astronauts eat in outer space? Kids can read an informational passage to learn about space food. The passage includes prompts that have learners identify the main idea and key details, then write a paragraph summarizing the text....
Curated OER
Elaborating the Main Idea, Using Supporting Details
A desk is used as a visual analogy to construct the main idea and supporting details in a story. The top of the desk is the main idea, and each of the four legs provides supporting details. The legs of the desk provide support for the...
Curated OER
Classifying Defending Information about Main Idea
Students read and highlight important information gathered from text. In this reading strategies instructional activity, students define classify and then classify the important information they find. Students share and reflect on their...
Curated OER
Catch those Butterfly Facts!
Discuss the importance of comprehension and the use of summarization with your class. Through guided practice, they follow three steps in finding and highlighting important information, deleting information that is not needed and...
Curated OER
Teaching Summarization
Examine the process of summarizing a piece of text using the book So You Want to Be a President? Kids review the definitions for main idea, topic sentences, superordinate terms, and supporting details. Next, they work in small groups to...
Curriculum Corner
Informational Text Graphic Organizers
Examine informational text with a three-page learning exercise that focuses on taking notes, identifying the main idea, and locating supporting details in order to form a summary paragraph.
Curated OER
Go Free or Die
Groups of older elementary learners begin their study of figurative language by visiting a website and completing the exercises detailed there. They then apply what they have learned by finding examples in several poems. Finally, they...
Curated OER
Freckle Juice
Students complete activities with the book Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. In this literature lesson, students read chapter one and brainstorm adjectives for the four main characters. They make a page of vocabulary words and definitions.
Curated OER
Summing it all Up...In Your Own Words
Students 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 paragraph...
Curated OER
Famous Women in American History: Rose Freedman
Fourth graders read about Rose Freedman, a famous American woman. In this famous women in American history activity, 4th graders read a story about Rose Freedman, answer comprehension questions, and complete an associated worksheet. They...
Teachnology
Paragraph Review
Writers are asked to examine four sentences that contain details and craft a topic sentence for a paragraph that encapsulates the main idea.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Expository Text Structure, Text Feature Find
Scholars explore an expository text to answer questions about its structure.
Curated OER
Short and Sweet
Students 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 within...
Curated OER
The Chocolate Touch
Students read a book. In this story elements instructional activity, students share their favorite food, predict what the story will be about and discuss how they would feel if they got to eat their favorite food everyday. Students...
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 4 ELA/Literacy)
The time has come to find out what your fourth grade readers have learned after another year of hard work. This Common Core-designed practice assessment provides two reading passages, one narrative and one expository, that children must...
Read Works
Cats in the Catacombs
Fourth graders read a short story and then answer questions based on what they read. Learners are asked to support their answers with evidence from the text.
Curated OER
Reading Strategies for Elementary Students
Pupils practice using strategies to help them read. They participate in activities that help them sound out words and determining the main idea. They also examine good and bad reading habits.
Curated OER
Let's sum it all up!
Students identify that comprehension is the main goal in reading. Then they read the words in a text, but also draw information from what they read. Students also identify and practice summarization. They read a piece of text and...
Curated OER
Muggie Maggie- Lesson 1
Students predict and read a chapter in a book. In this vocabulary and comprehension lesson, students learn new vocabulary words, make predictions of the story and then read and discuss chapter one of Muggie Maggie. Students use the...