Do your kids struggle with learning main idea and details? It seems as though it should be a pretty simple concept to teach, but not with my students. We are stuggling! Just when I think they have it, I get the deer in the headlights look on their faces. NOOOOOO!
I have been doing a bunch of brainstorming and have come up with several new ways I am going to tackle this common core standard in my classroom. I just finished making a Mastering Main Idea & Details packet to help me accomplish just that.
It is full of crafts: 6 to be exact! Each one can be used with any story OR it can be used with the main idea and detail sentences included. Some of them I have made extra challenging because I have provided the students with extra information and they have to sort which sentences go together and which to leave out. Differentiation has to be easy and this is one way to accomplish that.
I have also included sample anchor charts, flap books, topic, main idea and detail activity pages with answers sheets. I find explaining a topic and main idea are hard concepts for my second graders, so I have created different activities to help with that too.
I also created a little student "gift" to help my little guys remember the concept. I finished getting them ready this afternoon. I LOVE how they turned out!
My kiddos are sure to be experts with main idea and details after all these activities. No doubt about it! BUT just to make sure, I also created Main Idea and Details Task Cards. I truly believe they cannot review this concept enough. These cards are great because there are 4 sets of non-fiction text with multiple choice and free response answer choices. This is an easy way to meet all your students' needs at various levels.
I am so in love with my new Main Idea & Details packet and I want to share it with you. Just leave a comment below with your email and I will choose 2 winners tomorrow evening. Congrats to Laura and Marie M. Check your inbox for a little surprise! This packet will also be on sale for the next couple of days. I hope these activities will get you excited to teach main idea and details to your students too!