Main Idea Lesson Plan: Key Ideas and Details
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Main Idea, and supports the standard of determining a theme or central idea of a text. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Ask students:
- What is the main idea of your favorite book or movie?
- What are some details in the story that help you figure out the main idea?
Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE
- Read aloud the description on the Main Idea topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Assign Related Reading.
Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS
Assign the Main Idea Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND
Students express what they learned about finding a main idea while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.
- Make-a-Movie: Create a trailer for your favorite movie that answers these questions: What is the main idea of the movie? What details support the main idea?
- Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying the main idea of a book you read recently. Include details that support the main idea.
- Creative Coding: Code a newscast where the headline is the main idea and the background shows supporting details.
More to Explore
Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of determining key ideas and supporting details with these topics: Theme and Paraphrasing.
Teacher Support Resources:
- Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas.
- Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.
