Lesson Ideas

Main Idea

Finding the main idea isn’t always a piece of cake. In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby will show you how to figure out the main point of a piece of writing, whether it’s an essay, article, or paragraph. You’ll also discover things like what a topic is and what details are, including why they’re useful in determining the main idea. Plus, you’ll get some helpful hints to keep in mind when you’re reading any passage. Get the idea?

Authentic Purposes for Research Lesson Plan: After the Storm Game

In this lesson plan which is adaptable for grades 5-12, students use BrainPOP resources (including an online game) to practice research, reading, and writing skills within a real-world context. Through game play, students take on the role of a news magazine editor-in-chief, and must research facts through a variety of informational texts (such as press releases, email, and text massages) and then edit edit stories and coordinate social media to disseminate information to the community. This lesson plan is aligned to Common Core State Standards.  See more »

Note-Taking Skills Lesson Plan: Create a Personalized System

In this lesson plan which is adaptable for students in grades 3-12, students will explore various styles of note-taking and develop their own unique and effective note-taking system. See more »

Main Idea Lesson Plan: It’s a Real Life Skill!

In this lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades K-8, students use BrainPOP Jr. and/or BrainPOP resources to explore main idea. Students will practice finding the main idea of popular movies, music videos, books, and/or articles and complete a graphic organizer to analyze the main idea of a piece of media they select. This lesson plan is aligned to Common Core State Standards.  See more »

Main Idea Activities for Kids

In this set of activities adaptable for grades K-3, parents and educators will find ideas for teaching about finding the main idea of a paragraph, story or other reading passage. These activities are designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. Main Idea topic page, which includes a movie, quizzes, online games, printable activities, and more. See more »
Comments
  • Shannon Duplantis

    The resources on this page can help me get my children practicing main idea and details in small groups and in centers. I like the idea of using different pieces of media to practice this skill.

  • KJ Grogan

    I love that BrainPop has extended the thought of “main idea” from just reading to thinking about it as a real life skill. What is also helpful is that this skill targets the upper level grades as well (just not K-5). These resources help teachers created authentic ways of getting students engaged with creating and finding the main ideas.

  • Suzanna Garcia

    Really love the “It’s a Real Life Skill” lesson plan. Love the idea of using the FYI comic as a way to build the students’ background knowledge prior to showing them the movie. Pairing it with the Lord of the Flies game is the icing on top.