This Main Idea Worksheet helps 5th graders find two main ideas in any nonfiction text, back each one with key details, and write a clear summary of what they read.
Use this fishbone graphic organizer worksheet to help 5th grade readers map a text's main idea, four key points, and supporting details, then write a clear summary.
A Smarter Balanced (CAASPP / SBAC) 5th grade ELA practice test workbook for teachers, with a pretest, skill practice for all 24 standards, mixed review and 2 full-length practice tests. Answer key included, so test prep is ready to go.
This class critics summarizing activity gives 3rd to 5th grade students seven organizers to summarize books, videos, and articles. Answer key included for the model and practice.
Using RI.5.1 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson, students quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Using this Wants Needs Reading Response Worksheet, students readAlexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday to build their understanding of wants and needs.
This main idea octopus graphic organizer helps 5th grade students record two main ideas from a nonfiction text, back each one with key details, and write a clear summary.
This Now Presenting - Report on a Topic Activity is a fun way for students to learn about Summarizing and presentations!
Students match 6 rainforest main idea cards to 18 detail cards in this what's the main idea activity for 3rd to 5th Grade, with a recording sheet, practice page and answer key included.
Using RI.5.2 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson,students determine the main idea of a text and recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Using RL.5.2 Fifth Grade Common Core Lesson,students determine the main idea of a text and recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Find the big idea, prove it with details
In 5th grade, main idea gets more complex. Students learn that a text can have two or more main ideas, and they explain how key details support each one. They summarize longer informational articles in their own words, keeping only what matters. They quote accurately from the text to prove their thinking, and they tell the difference between the main idea of a section and of the whole article. The click comes when a student writes a three-sentence summary of a four-page article and nothing important is missing.
Fifth graders need structure and evidence. These moves give them both.
Put the main idea on the spine of a fishbone organizer and the supporting details on the bones. If a detail does not connect to the spine, it does not belong. The visual makes weak connections obvious.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withFishbone Graphic OrganizerGraphic OrganizersOpen it →Give a short passage each day and ask for the main idea in one sentence plus two supporting details. Review answers together and compare wording. Daily practice with short texts builds speed for longer ones.
Why it works: researchers who compared ten study methods found practice testing is one of the two that work best (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withMain Idea WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Project an article with two main ideas and think aloud as you find each one and its details. Highlight in two colors. Then students try a new article in pairs. Modeling helps them see that one text can hold more than one big idea.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withRI.5.2 Fifth Grade Common Core LessonCommon Core LessonsOpen it →These ideas get fifth graders talking about texts.
ActivitiesSummarize a short article or chapter like a movie critic, then rate it and defend your rating.
Open Class Critics Summarizing Activity →
WorksheetsWrite the main idea on the octopus head and supporting details on each tentacle.
Open Main Idea Octopus Graphic Organizer →
ActivitiesResearch a topic, find its main ideas and present them to the class in two minutes or less.
Open Now Presenting! Report on a Topic Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Main Idea Worksheet, Fishbone Graphic Organizer and Smarter Balanced (CAASPP / SBAC) 5th Grade ELA Practice Test Workbook.
The main idea is what a text is mostly about. Fifth graders find two or more main ideas in a text and explain how key details support each one.
The main idea is the big point in one sentence. A summary is a short retelling that includes the main idea and the most important supporting details in your own words.
Ask "What is this mostly about?" Look at the first and last sentences, check what the details have in common, and state it in one sentence.
After reading a news article together, ask your child to tell you the main idea in one sentence and give two details that prove it.
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