Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Comprehensive Assessment: Nonfiction [Pdf]
Questions are provided to help students determine the main idea, topic, purpose, and opinion of a piece of nonfiction. Students are prompted to write a summary of the informational text.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill: Informational Text: Determine Central Idea and Supporting Details
To understand a text, you must understand the central idea of the story. Learn how to recognize the central idea and supporting details with this article. Click the links at bottom right.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Expository Text Structure: Summarizing [Pdf]
A lesson plan in which students read a text and record the main ideas and supporting details on a graphic organizer. Students then complete the organizer by writing a summary of the text. Materials are included.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 1 Reading: Literature: Summarize
Summarizing is a key skill needed in reading comprehension. This page describes how to summarize main ideas in a text. Click on Model button for a model with explanation and then click on Practice (Bottom Right)
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts
In this lesson, students will examine the ways in which a magazine cover's headlines and graphics express the main ideas of its articles. They will then use an interactive tool to create covers that summarize chapters of informational...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Changing Our Street [Pdf]
"Changing Our Street" is a one page, realistic fiction, reading passage about how the problem of people driving too fast in a neighborhood was solved. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learn About Egypt [Pdf]
"Learn about Egypt" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about Egypt including its history and it's problems. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Making Progress [Pdf]
"Making Progress" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about students clearing the trash from a vacant lot near the school and planting a garden to beautify the neighborhood and show they care. It is followed by constructed-response...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: My Community [Pdf]
"My Community" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a child talking about how his community has changed since his grandmother moved into that neighborhood 50 years earlier. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: My New Brother [Pdf]
"My New Brother" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about child whose mother has just had new baby boy. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Pigeon Express [Pdf]
"Pigeon Express" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a man who had carrier pigeons and sent messages to his sister on the other side of town everyday. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Summer [Pdf]
"Summer" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a mother and her two children traveling from the city to the country to visit her parents for the summer. They discuss the modern conveniences they have now like cell phones and...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The Technology Trip [Pdf]
"The Technology Trip" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about children who planned a trip to the museum using the Internet to find the bus schedule. On the way, the bus was hit by a car so another bus had to take them. It is...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Changing the Ecosystem: Q & a [Pdf]
"Changing the Ecosystem: Q & A" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how the loss of the prairie to farming and population growth impacts the ecosystem. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: I Like Plants [Pdf]
"I Like Plants" is a one page, realistic fiction, reading passage about a person who loves plants and became a botanist; now she teaches her college students about plants and ecology. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Making Progress [Pdf]
"Making Progress" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about students clearing the trash from a vacant lot near the school and planting a garden to beautify the neighborhood and show they care. It is followed by constructed-response...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Mama's Happy Christmas [Pdf]
"Mama's Happy Christmas" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about children creating a play for their sick mother on Christmas day. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: My New Brother [Pdf]
"My New Brother" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about child whose mother has just had new baby boy. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: My First Baseball Game With Q&a [Pdf]
"My First Baseball Game" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a boy and his sister going to their first baseball game and learning what it means to be Chicago Cubs fans. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: My First Baseball Game With Q & a Key [Pdf]
"My First Baseball Game" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a boy and his sister going to their first baseball game and learning what it means to be Chicago Cubs fans. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Transportation Changes [Pdf]
"Transportation Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the history of transportation across both land and sea. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Seasons on the Prairie [Pdf]
"Seasons on the Prairie" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the different seasons in the prairie and the lighting fires that help prairie plants grow. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: The Working Tools of Insects[pdf]
"The Working Tools of Insects" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about insects that have special tools like the sawfly and the poppy-bee. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Today's Telephone [Pdf]
"Today's Telephone" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the history of telephones from the telegraph, to land-lines, to cell phones. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it...