E Reading Worksheets
Main Idea Worksheet 5
Did you know that Marie Curie's papers, as well as her cookbook, are radioactive and stored in lead-lined boxes? Did you know that Nikola Tesla developed a death ray? Famous scientists and inventors are the subjects featured in a series...
E Reading Worksheets
Main Idea Worksheet 4
Does your class or do individual learners need more practice determining the main idea of a passage of informational text? Here is a worksheet containing seven exercises that asks kids to read short paragraphs, summarize the passage in...
E Reading Worksheets
Main Idea with Robots
Androids, cyborgs, and robonauts? Kids are sure to be engaged by the thematically related passages on a reading comprehension worksheet that asks them to summarize the passage in one sentence, and then develop an appropriate title that...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel: How Do People Access Books Around the World?
Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 2: Level 8
Need a quick assessment of your middle schoolers' reading comprehension skills? The four questions on this quiz ask readers to identify the likely source of the article, define words based on context, and identify the main idea of the...
DePaul University
The Football Team
Playing team sports is about more than just scoring the most goals or winning the most games. Read this passage with your class and learn how athletes build character as members of a team. When finished, individuals identify the main...
DePaul University
A Garden in Lawndale
We are all capable of changing the world for the better; all it takes is a spark. Read about a group of seventh grade students in Chicago, IL who took it upon themselves to improve their community by turning a vacant lot into a garden....
Curated OER
Media Literacy
Elementary learners observe and discuss advertisements for tobacco and alcohol. They identify how advertisers place information in strategic spots and make their product look good. They choose an ad and fill out the attached form on...
Curated OER
Counteracting Media Stereotyping
Discuss media stereotypes with your emerging consumers. They view a television program to identify gender bias. After discussing the clip as a class, each learner writes a story showing more equitable roles. Or consider having them...
Curated OER
What's the Big Idea?
Students choose a paragraph from a book of their choice, identify the main idea, and draw an illustration of the main idea. They write original paragraphs, illustrate them, and trade with a partner, identifying the main idea of the...
Curated OER
What's The Idea
Students discuss the importance of identifying the main idea in reading selections. After reading newspaper articles related to nutrition, students identify the main idea of the selection and three supporting details. A reading log...
Curated OER
Classifying Information About Main Idea
In this reading for understanding instructional activity, students underline information in a text that is important in identifying the main idea. This instructional activity provides good practice for students who usually have...
Curated OER
Main Idea and Supporting Details
Eighth graders identify the main idea and supporting details in paragraphs. In this language arts lesson, 8th graders review organizational patterns in paragraphs and determine which pattern is best for a given situation. Individually,...
Curated OER
Learning Paragraph Structure Through Design
Students examine paragraph structure, the writing process, and then design a model for the process. For this writing skills lesson, students explore paragraphs using the SmartBoard. Students create a class T-chart about paragraph...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Answering Text-Dependent Questions About Librarians and Organizations Around the World
This is a skills-based assessment that asks test takers to use textual evidence to determine the main idea of an excerpt from an informational text as well as respond to text-dependent questions. The assessment is the middle point...
Curriculum Corner
Informational Text Graphic Organizers
Examine informational text with a three-page worksheet that focuses on taking notes, identifying the main idea, and locating supporting details in order to form a summary paragraph.
EngageNY
Close Reading of The Boy Who Loved Words: How Do People Build Their Word Power?
Third graders practice the skills of identifying the main message in a story, describing the main character, and sorting the key details of a story into specific categories. The story they read is, The Boy Who Loved Words. Using a...
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...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Nasreen's Secret School: How Do People Access Books in Afghanistan?
Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth lesson in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing visible thinking...
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...
Curated OER
Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
BBC
Rivers
The water cycle, rainfall, and the flow of water into rivers then out into the ocean are the main ideas covered here. After a teacher-led discussion and activity, learners pair off and write a commentary about the water cycle that is to...
World Intellectual Property Organization
Learn from the Past, Create the Future: Inventions and Patents
3D printers, selfie sticks, smart watches. GPS, self-driving cars, YouTube. Imagine life without inventions. Believe it or not, these items were all invented in the last 10 years. Inventions, and the inventors responsible for them,...