Determining Importance

Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...

A graphic organizer is employed to help sixth graders determine author's point of view and word choice. They listen to, read, and watch portions of the "I Have a Dream Speech" taking word choice and author's craft into deep...

Did you hear that? It's the main idea! Teach your class listening and note-taking strategies for determining the main idea by following the steps provided in this plan.

How important are sound effects in films? In stage plays? In radio programs? To gain an understanding of the impact of these special effects, class members watch a short video spoof of the sound in a scene from Star Wars: A New...

Help your class develop the ability to determine a main idea with a packet of materials that you can introduce and use over a period of time. The packet includes some information for the teacher and rationale for the exercises. There are...

What is an emergency, why is preparing for one important, and how can your pupils help others prepare for an emergency? Answer these questions and more with a short unit. Learners will participate in a variety of collaborative,...

The Odyssey is the core text in this unit study of the hero's journey motif. Along the way, kids research Greek and Roman history, mythology, art, and epic poetry. The 104-page packet is perfect for homeschool or classroom situations and...

After reading any short informational or fictional text, ask your class to analyze the important events. They note down three important events on a short timeline, describing the events with either words or drawings. After this, pupils...

Eighth through eleventh graders practice six reading comprehension strategies: connecting, visualizing, questioning, inferring, determining importance in text, and synthesizing. Each strategy is practiced using a different picture book...

Concentrate on the most important idea in an informational text by looking at the supporting details and composing a one-sentence statement about the central idea. In the video, the narrator makes a timeline of events in "The Little...