Curated OER
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...
Olathe Public Schools
Topic, Main Idea, Supporting Detail, and Theme
Get your class members thinking about a reading passage's topic, main idea, supporting details, and theme with this interactive presentation that asks scholars to define, locate, and review each term.
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
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.
EngageNY
Synthesizing Information: Writing an Apprentice Wanted Ad
Fourth graders view examples of help-wanted ads as they plan and create their own writing in the fourteenth instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. The engagement of the class is captured when the teacher shares an actual...
Curated OER
Writing Organizers
Eight graphic organizers to choose from? That's right! Each of these organizers relates to writing or reading. From narrowing a writing topic, to responding to literature, to planning a writing project, you'll find many purposes for...
Curated OER
8th Grade Reading Comprehension Success
Augment your eighth grade language arts curriculum with a thorough set of reading comprehension activities and assessments. Focusing on a variety of skills, including vocabulary in context, text structure, main idea, and author's style,...
Curated OER
Literature and the Language Arts
Reading involves more than simply picking up a text and saying the words aloud. A practice guide introduces readers to key skills such as making inferences, finding the main idea or theme, and using context clues. Each skill contains a...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 3
Middle schoolers complete a writing assessment task to demonstrate their ability to craft a narrative based on a variety of informational texts. They view West of the West's documentary Magic Isle, read three print resources about the...
Curated OER
Only the Facts
Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What is an...
Curated OER
Headings and Titles
Fifth graders explain the difference between the title of a text and the headings. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders discuss how the heading is related to the main idea of a text. Additionally, students write information related...
Curated OER
Muggie Maggie - Lesson 6
Third graders read chapter 6 of Beverly Cleary's, Muggie Maggie, and complete associated activities. For this Muggie Maggie activity, 3rd graders complete vocabulary work. They examine punctuation marks used in the chapter, and make a...
Curated OER
Creating Civic Awareness Through Artistic and Literary Forms
Interpret current events using editorial cartoons and other print media. Middle schoolers explore the meanings of literary and artistic terms such as satire, irony, and caricature. They visit internet sites to develop an understanding of...
Pulitzer Center
Peacebuilding: Taking Home Lessons Learned in Africa
Learners take a closer look at one journalist's work on UN Peacebuilding efforts in four African nations: Sierra Leone, Burundi, Central African Republic, and Guinea Bissau. They collaborate to define peacebuilding and discuss the...
Calisphere
The 6 C's of Primary Source Analysis
Arm your class members with the six C's of primary source analysis—content, citation, context, connections, communication, and conclusions—and help them to establish a solid system for analyzing historical sources of information.
Reading for Meaning
Sample Lessons and Worksheets
If you need to bulk up your reading comprehension worksheet collection, take a look at a resource that includes graphic organizers and reading comprehension questions. The series of 50 worksheets addresses novels such as Julie of the...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 4-5
Should the excavation of what is believed to be the cave of the Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island be allowed to continue? As a practice exercise designed to prepare pupils for a timed writing exam, individuals read two Los Angeles Times...
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
Act it Out: Dramatizing Asian American Stories
Read and act out folktales, fairy tales, or myths from various Asian American cultures with your class. Each group reads a story aloud and then works together to create a short play or skit about the story. Suggestions for stories are...
Curated OER
Left-to-Right Reading
Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing!
Channel Islands Film
Dark Water: Lesson Plan 1 - Grades 3-4
As part of their study of the history of the Channel Islands, class members craft an informational article to post on a bulletin board that features the Chumash ancestral tradition of tomol paddling.
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: “Medicine: Then and Now” Pre-Reading Activity
What did medicine look like a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Invite small groups to conduct research on the history of a chosen medical advancement before reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science....
Curated OER
Poetry Project
Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...
University of North Carolina
Reading Aloud
Warning: reading your paper aloud may cause bystanders to think you're talking to yourself. However, as the 14th installment of 24 in the Writing the Paper series from UNC explains, it is one of the best strategies for revision. Through...
College Board
Reading—Synthesis and Paired Passages
Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson,...