Better Lesson: Points of Informational Text Main Idea and Details

This lesson uses the book Explorers of North America - A True Book by Brendan January to teach students how to identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text and specific paragraphs within the text. Students are guided in how to create a timeline of historical events and they learn about text features. The lesson is done using print materials and a whiteboard with markers, but could be adapted to use with an interactive whiteboard. Worksheets, samples of student work, and videos of them discussing their work are provided.