Summary
In this lesson, students explore strategies that they can use to identify the main idea and key details in an informational text. Students identify main ideas, supporting details, and nonessential details in visual advertisements, paragraphs, and full texts. At the end of lesson, students reflect on their progress using both visual and written responses.
Essential Question(s)
How can a reader identify the main idea of a text? How can a reader identify important supporting details?
Snapshot
Engage
Students examine five creative advertisements and identify the main idea and key supporting details of each ad.
Explore
Students sort individual sentences from a paragraph and identify which sentences contain the main idea, key supporting details, and details that are not important.
Explain
Students participate in a 4–2–1 activity in which they identify important pieces of information in an article and compare their results with those of their classmates.
Extend
Students read an article then mark important pieces of information using Why-Lighting.
Evaluate
Students partner with a classmate and complete a Gramit activity in which they use images to identify the main idea and supporting details of their articles. Students then independently write a reflection on their learning.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Visual Analysis handout (attached; one per student)
Sentence Sort cards (attached; one set per group of 2–3 students)
4–2–1 Organizer handout (attached; one per student)
“American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality” article (linked)
“I’m a Flint resident. I’m done paying for water that is not safe” article (linked)
“Life on Reservations” article (linked)
“Redlining’s legacy: Maps are gone, but the problem hasn’t disappeared” article (linked)
“Is Military Service the Path to the American Dream?” article (linked)
Highlighters
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 2 and briefly explain to students what an information text is. Explain to students that an informational text is a piece of writing that is intended to inform readers about a topic using specific details and facts. Show slide 3–4 and introduce students to the essential questions and learning objectives of the lesson.
Distribute one copy of the attached Visual Analysis handout to each student. Display slide 5 and introduce the instructions for the first activity. Explain to students that they will see a series of creative advertisements. Using their handout, they will analyze and record details from and infer the main idea of each advertisement.
Show slide 6 and walk students through an example of the activity. Read aloud the main idea of the image and explain the details of the image that support that main idea. Point out any details that don’t contribute to the main idea to assist students in understanding the difference between relevant and irrelevant details.
Display slide 7 and ask students to study the image then record the main idea and supporting details on their handouts. Guide students through the activity by identifying a few details that do not support the main idea and point out that not all details will be relevant.
Repeat the process for slides 8–10.
Show slide 11 and direct students’ attention to the text box on the bottom of their handouts. Ask students to reflect on the activity and consider the questions on the slide. Tell them to record their responses to the questions in the text box on their handouts.
Explore
25 Minute(s)
Form groups of two to three students if you did not seat students in groups prior to the lesson.
Display slide 12 and introduce students to the instructions for the Sentence Sort activity. Distribute once set of Sentence Sort cards to each group. Ask students to read the series of sentence cards then sort the cards into categories based on whether each sentence is a main idea, important supporting detail, or non-important supporting detail. Allow groups adequate time to complete the activity.
Show slide 13 and introduce the instructions for a modified Elbow Partners activity. Invite students to form small groups with their nearby classmates. Tell them to compare, discuss, and explain the results of their Sentence Sort activities with their group members. Begin the 5-minute timer and allow students time to discuss.
Lead a class discussion in which you invite groups to share out their main ideas and details. As a class, arrive at a consensus on the main idea and important supporting details.
Lead students in analyzing the full paragraph and guide them to isolate where the main idea originated from. Point out to students that the topic sentence and final sentence of a paragraph are good places to start when looking for the main idea.
Explain
25 Minute(s)
Pass out one copy of the attached 4-2-1 Organizer handout to each student. Display slide 14 and explain the instructions for the 4-2-1 summaries activity.
Ask students to independently read the brief article, “American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality.” Tell students to identify the four most important pieces of information in the article and record that information in their 4-2-1 Organizer handouts.
Pair up students and have them compare the information in their handouts. Have them collaborate to narrow both of their sets of four ideas down to two of the most important ideas. Ask them to record those two pieces of information in their 4-2-1 Organizer handout.
Pair up each group of two with other group of two to form groups of four students. Have these new groups collaborate to determine the most important idea from the article. Once they determine the most important idea, have them record it in the final box of their charts.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Show slide 15 and review the Why-Lighting strategy. Instruct students to select an article and annotate it by identifying and highlighting important details. Emphasize that students must focus on on details that support the overall theme, or main idea. Tell them to write a brief explanation next to each detail explaining why they chose to highlight that detail.
Introduce students to the following articles and have them select one to annotate:
“I’m a Flint resident. I’m done paying for water that is not safe.”
“Redlining’s legacy: Maps are gone, but the problem hasn’t disappeared”
Allow students adequate time to read their articles. As they read, circulate the room and provide feedback on important details.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 16 and pair students with a partner that read the same article.
Introduce the GramIt activity and instruct pairs to create four images, one that conveys the main idea of the article and three that each convey a supporting detail. Instruct each pair to create a hashtag for each image that connects to the main idea and supporting details. Tell students when they are finished that they should publish the image to either your digital classroom page or a dedicated space in the classroom.
After students have completed and published their posts, display slide 17. Have students take out a piece of paper and independently write a reflection on the lesson. Instruct them to respond to the following questions on the slide:
In what ways can you identify the main idea in an informational text?
How do supporting details help a reader identify the main idea?
What reading techniques can you use to approach an informational text?
You may consider collecting student responses to serve a formative assessment of the lesson.
Resources
Brooks, K. J. (2020). Redlining’s legacy: Maps are gone, but the problem hasn’t disappeared. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/redlining-s-legacy-maps-are-gone-but-the-problem-hasn-t-disappeared
Brosbe, R. (2023). Is military service the path to the American Dream? CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/is-military-service-the-path-to-the-american-dream
Colgate. (2011). Kiwi, Strawberry [Advertisement].
D., L. (2014). 33 powerful and creative print ads that’ll make you look twice. Bored Panda. http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/
History.com Editors. (2024). 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. History Channel. https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre
K20 Center. (n.d.). 4-2-1. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/142
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Google classroom. Tech Tool. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/628
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gramit. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/2554
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). K20 Center 5 minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/EVS_yYQoLJg?si=kTaJ334s_kIiqut4
McBirney, J. (2017). Life on reservations. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/life-on-reservations
McDonald’s. (2009). Wi-fries [Advertisement].
Olaniran, T. (2018). I’m a Flint resident. I’m done paying for water that is not safe. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/i-m-a-flint-resident-i-m-done-paying-for-water-that-is-not-safe
Orion Telescopes. (2007). Moon [Advertisement].
Pepsi. (2013). We wish you a scary Halloween! [Advertisement].
Volkswagen. (2012). Hedgehog and fish [Advertisement].