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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Find the Main Idea: The Meerkat

For Students 2nd - 3rd Standards
After examining a short article about African meerkats, readers identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the paragraph.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Organizing Main Ideas and Supporting Details

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers read given information and identify the main ideas and specific detail of the story. In groups, they read a historical title and create a "book talk" for each one, summarizing the story. In addition, students create a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Main Idea with SENTEO Component

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Young scholars explore "main idea." In this main idea and details reading comprehension lesson, students view a Brain POP video about main idea and then identify sentences displayed on the SMART Board that would be included in a...
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

David Copperfield

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers use the provided graphic organizer to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a passage from Charles Dickens' David Copperfield.
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Ben Franklin

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Readers are asked to use the provided graphic organizer to list the main idea and supporting ideas in a passage about the inventions of Benjamin Franklin.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hands-On Outlining

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
In order to write an effective outline, children must be able to identify main ideas and supporting details, which is the aim of this fun and kinesthetic activity. The class works on the floor to organize sentence strips prepared by the...
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Planets

For Students 2nd - 5th Standards
Readers are asked to identify the main ideas and supporting ideas in a passage about the eight planets in our solar system. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classifying Information About a Main Idea

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Elementary learners explore language arts by completing a text identification activity. They discuss the importance of a main idea in a story or paper and how to present it properly. Then they practice identifying the main idea in sample...
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Unit Plan
Crabtree Publishing

The Genius of the Ancients

For Teachers 5th Standards
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Fifth graders prove this with help from three lessons that examine how ancient cultures used their needs to drive innovations. In lesson one, pupils identify main ideas and supporting...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Holes Match 'Em Up Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected  among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main events to end...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Pages 4 - 7 and 12 - 15 of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Bullfrog Circle

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Scholars take part in a close reading of pages four through seven and 12-15 of the book, Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Bullfrog Circle by Deborah Dennard. Readers identify the story's main idea, list its key details, and examine...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Introduction: The Ideas of Charles Darwin

For Teachers 6th Standards
Piece by piece ... Scholars read the text World without Fish by breaking the text into pieces. They identify challenging words and determine the gist of each section as they read. They then work together in triads to answer...
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Worksheet
DePaul University

Learn about Fables

For Students 2nd - 4th Standards
Expose young readers to a new genre of fiction with a short reading passage. After learning about fables, children identify the main idea and supporting details in preparation for writing a short summary. Read the text as a class,...
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Anne of Green Gables

For Students 2nd - 5th
A passage from Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables provides young readers with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a paragraph.
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

Black Beauty

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
A paragraph from Anna Sewell's Black Beauty provides middle schoolers an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a passage.
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Identifying the Main Idea in Fiction

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Discovering the main idea in fiction is like uncovering buried treasure; one must persevere to locate it, and the reward is priceless. Scholars delve deep into leveled stories using three questions to aid in identifying the main idea. 
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Find the Main Idea

For Students 6th - 8th
It's important for learners to be able to identify the main point in an article, paper, or essay. Start by having them identify the main idea in a short paragraph. There are three short paragraphs (each with four multiple choice options)...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Find the Main Idea in Romeo and Juliet

For Students 8th - 9th
Finding the main idea in a text can be rather difficult! Work with your class and develop this skill. This resource contains an excerpt from Act II, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, and the reader must identify the main idea of Juliet's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Read All About it

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Learners create and publish a newspaper that reflects and explains pioneer and medieval societies. They become newspaper writers for a specific time period. They adopt a holistic approach to exploring community life in medieval and...
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Organizer
3
3
Polk Bros Foundation

I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The learning exercise is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Main Idea in Informational Text

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 12

For Teachers 9th Standards
As the first in a two-part, end-of-unit assessment that encourages readers to synthesize the unit's main ideas, class members review their notes for each of the three texts they read and develop three open-ended discussion questions...
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PPT
1
1
Olathe Public Schools

Topic, Main Idea, Supporting Detail, and Theme

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
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.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Waiting for the Biblioburro: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Expose your class to Waiting for the Biblioburro, narrative nonfiction that will act as the bridge between ficiton and informational texts to come. Class members do a close reading of the text, looking at excerpts instead of the whole...