K12 Reader
Booker T. Washington: Up From Slavery
Read Booker T. Washington's inspiring story about arriving at his name with a short reading passage from his autobiography, Up From Slavery. After class members read the excerpt, they answer two reading comprehension questions about the...
Curated OER
Reading Strategies: Main Idea
Identify the main idea and the supporting details of a story in a literacy resource from Discovery Education. Complete with procedures, vocabulary, and assessment activities, this is a great way for pupils to practice their outlining...
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...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Main Idea
Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...
Curated OER
6th Grade: Express Yourself, Lesson 1: Poem
While originally created to accompany The Cay, this poetry lesson could be used on it's own, especially if you are working on dialect. Class members conduct a close reading of "When Malindy Sings" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and listen to an...
Curated OER
A Beautiful Mind: Main ideas and supporting details
This worksheet that accompanies a reading of A Beautiful Mind includes over 20 questions that address theme, fact and opinion, supporting details, characterization, and quote comprehension.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Recognizing the Main Idea
Understanding that paragraphs have a main idea expressed in a topic sentence, followed by supporting details in the subsequent sentences is the focus of this presentation. Students practice by reading short paragraphs in 10 slides, and...
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.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5
Finding the central idea in a text is equally important in fiction and nonfiction. Work on analyzing a piece of writing for the central idea with Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," complete with supporting...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 4
The concept of sight, whether it's a lack of sight or abundant sight of the future, plays a vital role in Sophocle's Oedipus the King. Develop your ninth graders' literary vision with a lesson plan that connects the prophecy of Teiresias...
Curated OER
Analysis Of Theme In The Scarlet Letter
Eleventh graders engage in the reading of the novel "The Scarlet Letter" while choosing a topic to write a literature response. They search the novel for textual evidence to include in writing a paper that supports a well thought...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Claim and Supporting Claims: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”
Scholars continue to analyze Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They participate in a jigsaw discussion to identify the author's argument and supporting claims. Pupils also write objective summaries of the text.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 6
Are cattle prods beneficial for herding cattle, or do they cause more harm than good? Investigate Temple Grandin's claim about animal behavior with a lesson that focuses on pages 20-23 of the first chapter of her book, Animals in...
Curated OER
Main Idea/Supporting Details Scavenger Hunt
Engage your class in a scavenger hunt to find the main ideas and supporting details in a text. They follow the teacher while s/he models how to determine main idea and find supporting details, and then they work independently. A fun way...
Curated OER
Finding the Main Idea: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
An excerpt from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea provides learners with an opportunity to practice their ability to identify the main idea and supporting details in a passage. The beautifully illustrated worksheet also has an...
Curated OER
Identifying Supporting Evidence from a Text - What is a Hero?
Pupils define hero and identify supporting evidence in a text. They complete a hero diagram worksheet and watch a video about a little boy from China who acts as a hero. Additionally, they complete the Ping Hero evidence worksheet and...
Curated OER
Finding the Main Idea: Little Women
Whether or not your class is reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, you can use this exercise as the basis of a mini-lesson on how to determine the main idea of a passage or as a pre-test to assess mastery of the skill. A graphic...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2
"Everybody is guilty of something." As class members continue their close reading of Walter Mosley's essay, they examine how Mosley develops and supports his central ideas about Western civilization's relationship to guilt.
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 a Title to Determine Main Idea (Nonfiction)
Young readers explore a nonfiction text for its main idea. They will listen to the book Animal Sight by Kirsten Hall, and then observe as the teacher models a main idea think-aloud. Later, for independent practice, they listen to the...
Curated OER
What's The Idea?
Quite often, learners confuse the main idea in a selection of reading with the supporting details. In this lesson, pupils practice the skill of finding the main idea and the supporting details in pieces of writing. Newspaper articles...
Curated OER
Main Idea and Supporting Details
Readers use an "Idea Tree" graphic organizer to discern the main idea and supporting details of several passages included in this presentation. The three passages offer opportunities for guided and independent practice.
Curated OER
Implied Main Idea
Reinforce main idea and supporting details with your seventh graders in this language arts lesson. Using a SMART board presentation and handouts (all attachments are provided), they review and practice finding main idea and details in...