Name: ______

Lesson Title - What’s the Big Idea?

Goal(s) / I am teaching this lesson to reinforce the importance of determining main ideas in a text. I am also teaching this lesson to encourage students to understand why the main idea is necessary for comprehension of the whole text.
Objective(s) / ·  At the end of this lesson, the children will develop an understanding that main ideas are imperative to the comprehension of the whole text.
·  At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to determine the main idea in a text and articulate why it is the main idea.
Materials / ·  “What’s the Big Idea?” chart
·  Chart paper
·  Markers
·  Caroline’s Canoe Adventure Transparency
·  Elmo
·  Leveled Text Cards
·  6 copies of The Golden Touch
Engagement / I will immerse the students in a shared learning environment by telling them a “hook story,” which will be about when I pulled a loose string of my sweater and it all unraveled. I will involve them in this conversation by asking them what they think might have happened by using their inference skills. I will ask them to put a thumbs-up if they ever experienced anything like this in order to allow them to make connections to their everyday lives. I will then segway the “unraveling sweater” metaphor into my reading lesson, telling them that the incident reminded me of what it’s like to read a story without understand the main idea of it – the whole story would unravel! I will ask for 2-3 volunteers to share their explanation of what a main idea is.. I will be able to assess their background knowledge by listening to their answers and ensuring that there is a basic knowledge of the concept of main ideas.
Exploration and Concept Development / ·  First, I will call the students to the rug for Reader’s Workshop to begin the mini-lesson and remind them that they have been doing a great job of summarizing what they are reading, but now we are going to be taking it a step further
·  I will begin by telling my sweater anecdote and involving the class in a quick discussion before segwaying into reading
·  Next, I will explain that finding main ideas in our reading is important because without them, the story would no longer make sense/stay the same
·  I will put Caroline’s Canoe Adventure on the Elmo and ask the students to follow along with me as I read the story 2 times
·  I will read the story once as they follow along, and then ask them to listen to the story once more, this time trying to determine the main idea and be ready to share their thoughts
·  After we have read it, I will model how I look for main ideas thinking aloud of what the story was mostly about. I will write down a possible main idea on the chart paper to start a list
·  Next, I will ask them to turn and talk to their partners and discuss what they think the main idea is and why. As they talk, I will listen to different partnerships to assess if they are able to articulate their thoughts
·  I will then bring the class back together and ask for 4-5 people to share their main idea with the class and explain why they think think it’s the main idea. I will write these ideas on the list
·  Once the list is finished, we will go through each idea on the list and discuss which one is the main idea by realizing which one we would definitely need to understand the story
·  After the conversation, I will tell them that they are going to have an opportunity to do this with a group of 3-4 using leveled text cards. I will explain to them that my expectations are that they will have a discussion as partners once they are finished reading to determine the main idea
·  I will assign groups of 3 or 4 depending on students’ understanding
·  As the partners read together, I will meet with the Green Guided Reading Group and work on determining the main idea with The Golden Touch.
·  After guided reading, I will then confer with 1-2 grousp while they are reading to ensure that they are understanding the concept and looking for and discussing the main idea in the text
·  At the end, I will ask for 2-3 groups to share what they determined the main idea to be and explain why. I will ask for other students to give a thumbs-up if they agree with the answers.
Culminating Experiences / Students will be able to demonstrate what they have learned by being involved in the discussions both in the whole group and small group contexts. They will also be able to demonstate by answering questions, both on the carpet and while conferring. I will be able to assess their progress by listening to their answers and discussions, looking for their thumbs-up answers, and observing them while they are working in groups.
Extension / I will remind the students that determining the main idea is not something that we only do during reading, but also in our everyday lives. I will explain that the more we practice this while we read, we will be better able to do it outside of reading, and vice-versa. I will connect this to the idea that everything that we do during Reader’s Workshop should be carried out into the world with us – it is not only for the period that we are reading in our class. I will remind them that these strategies not only make us better readers, but they provide us better opportunities to become great learners in every aspect of our lives.