Dakota State University
College of Education
Name: Miss Sorsen
Grade Level: 3-8
School: Rustic Acres Colony
Date: March 29, 2017
Time: 1:30-2:15 pm
Reflection from prior lesson: This is the first lesson of three. However, students have had pre-exposure to main idea
before. A lot of the students struggle with grasping the difference between a topic and main idea of a passage.
Lesson Goal(s) / Standards: CCSS: ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2 - Determine the main idea of a text; recount
the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Lesson Objectives: Given pieces of an Athean graphic organizer, students will accurately construct a representation
of the topic, main idea and supporting details.
Materials Needed:
-Pencils
-Cut up pieces of Athean graphic organizer
-Tape
-Printed out informational articles
Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics: Each student at Rustic Acres is an ESL student. There are 9 students in
grades 3-8. There are 7 boys and 2 girls. There are no students on formal IEPS. However, there is one student who
has to move around in order to concentrate he is permitted to do this to a certain extent.
A. The Lesson
1. Introduction (include time allotment)
getting attention Teacher will post picture of Beep Robot on the board, and tell students that we will
be meeting this little guy today later on in the lesson.
relating to past experience and/or knowledge Now, first, we are going to talk about recess. I want you
to brainstorm with me things that you do at recess.
creating a need to know You just told me all about the things you do at recess time. What we just
brainstormed together can represent a topic, main idea and supporting details. Your topic is recess.
Your main idea is things you do at recess. Your supporting details are the things you described for me
that you do at recess.
sharing objective, in general terms With cut out pieces of paper in different shapes, you will
construct your own representation of a topic, main idea and supporting details.
2. Content Delivery (include time allotment & instructional methodologies)
a. Video - https://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/mainidea/
b. Quiz Teacher and students will together take a short quiz over the video.
c. Debrief Teacher will repeat what a topic, main idea and supporting details are and write them on the
board.
d. Shared Reading - Teacher and students will read a passage together.
e. Graphic Organizer Teacher and students will construct an Athean main idea graphic organizer based
upon the passage.
f. Independent Reading Students will read different passages independently.
g. Graphic Organizer Students will construct their own Athean representation of topic, main idea and
supporting details.
h. Guided Questions Teacher will walk around and ask guided questions to aid students in their
completion of their graphic organizer.
3. Closure (include time allotment)
a. Teacher will ask students within each grade what they found for their topic, main idea and supporting
details.
b. I hope that you have learned a lot more about the difference between a topic, main idea and
supporting details. Pod 1, can you put your heads together to think of a good definition for what a topic
is? Teacher will go through other two pods, asking them about main idea and supporting details.
B. Assessments Used
i. Completed Athean graphic organizers to be turned in.
C. Differentiated Instruction
i. Leveled Passages- Different passages will be given to each grade, so that their passage fits within their
comprehension level.
D. Resources
i. https://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/mainidea/
ii. http://www.teacher.org/lesson-plan/main-idea/
iii. http://brownbagteacher.com/main-idea-flo/
iv. https://newsela.com/articles/gl-history-wwII-battlefield/id/24525/
v. https://newsela.com/articles/loc-mysteries-rain-objects/id/25255/
Reflection: The video had some very difficult questions. I felt that I could have taken those
questions beforehand and made them into more student-friendly language. Also, the students
have not quite grasped the concept of main idea and supporting details. This tells me we need
touch even more on them, and use them frequently.
