Lesson Plan
LESSONS & UNITS: MAIN IDEA 4TH GRADE UNIT
Lesson 1: Topic Sentence
Learning Outcome
Identify the main idea of a paragraph using the topic sentence of the paragraph
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Direct Teaching and Guided Practice Passage,“Buckle Up?;” Independent Practice Passage, “Hawaii Quakes, Then Shakes” and Worksheet
Not Provided: N/A
Lesson Plan
DIRECT TEACHING will explain that strong paragraphs have a topic sentence. This topic sentence is what the paragraph is mainly about. Often, it is the first or last sentence in a paragraph but sometimes it is in the middle of the paragraph. I will model the strategy of finding the sentence that the paragraph is mainly about in order to identify the main idea. I will read the first two paragraphs of “Buckle Up?” (provided in Books and Passages) and identify the sentences that are the main idea (or the topic sentence) in the paragraphs.
THINK CHECK
Ask: How did I find the main idea of the paragraph? Students should respond that you looked for the topic sentence in the paragraph that summarizes what the paragraph is mostly about.
GUIDED PRACTICE will continue reading the passage “Buckle Up?” and use the strategy of identifying the sentence that tells us what each paragraph is mostly about. Students will work with partners to identify and underline the main idea of each paragraph. We will discuss how we determined the main idea of each paragraph.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE will use the strategy of reading all the sentences in a paragraph to identify the main idea of each paragraph in “Hawaii Quakes, Then Shakes”
You will identify and underline the main idea of each paragraph and explain how you did so. (Student Independent Practice passage and worksheet are provided below in Teacher and Student Materials.)
Build Student Vocabulary fraction
Tier 2 Word: fraction
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story
Though the numbers are higher than thought, they
Lesson 1: Topic Sentence
Learning Outcome
Identify the main idea of a paragraph using the topic sentence of the paragraph
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Direct Teaching and Guided Practice Passage,“Buckle Up?;” Independent Practice Passage, “Hawaii Quakes, Then Shakes” and Worksheet
Not Provided: N/A
Lesson Plan
DIRECT TEACHING will explain that strong paragraphs have a topic sentence. This topic sentence is what the paragraph is mainly about. Often, it is the first or last sentence in a paragraph but sometimes it is in the middle of the paragraph. I will model the strategy of finding the sentence that the paragraph is mainly about in order to identify the main idea. I will read the first two paragraphs of “Buckle Up?” (provided in Books and Passages) and identify the sentences that are the main idea (or the topic sentence) in the paragraphs.
THINK CHECK
Ask: How did I find the main idea of the paragraph? Students should respond that you looked for the topic sentence in the paragraph that summarizes what the paragraph is mostly about.
GUIDED PRACTICE will continue reading the passage “Buckle Up?” and use the strategy of identifying the sentence that tells us what each paragraph is mostly about. Students will work with partners to identify and underline the main idea of each paragraph. We will discuss how we determined the main idea of each paragraph.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE will use the strategy of reading all the sentences in a paragraph to identify the main idea of each paragraph in “Hawaii Quakes, Then Shakes”
You will identify and underline the main idea of each paragraph and explain how you did so. (Student Independent Practice passage and worksheet are provided below in Teacher and Student Materials.)
Build Student Vocabulary fraction
Tier 2 Word: fraction
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story
Though the numbers are higher than thought, they