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All year in reading, we have talked about main idea with our friends, but it has only been this week that we have zoomed in on identifying the topic, main idea, and supporting details of a text. This is such a hard concept for our firsties and we need lots of practice and graphic organizers.
Life in 1st grade is definitely hands-on, so we loved using Simply Creative Teaching’s Main Idea Mystery Bags. Each bag contained 4 “clues”. Throughout the day when a friend had exceptional behavior, they were able to choose an idea from a bag. Once all four items were pulled, we put the clues together to discover the mystery!
This graphic organizer (from my Differentiated Graphic Organizer pack) has also been a huge scaffold to my students. We’ve been using the organizer with the sentence starter “The author is trying to teach me…” and it’s really helped my friends consider the BIG idea of the whole article or chapter. You can snag this organizer FREE from Google Drive here.
BrainPop is, of course, one of our favorites. Moby is just so silly and the content is out of this world. I love the vocabulary my students are exposed to, and the after-video quizzes are just-right practice. Plus, my friends can sing the intro song like no-one’s business!
Next week, we will continue with this concept as we begin learning about the desert (we’ve also learned about the tundra and rainforest). To help our friends with this, I have made a series of non-fiction passages about desert animals (great for whole-group or guided reading instruction). You can grab the organizer and sample passage for FREE on TpT. All you need to do is click here and then, click the green ‘Preview’ button on the left of the screen!
After branching from what we know (the desert), we’re moving to all things animals – a first-grade favorite!
Oh goodness, friends. It is Friday. I am signing praises and going to bed now. So tell me, what are your favorite main idea resources? I’d love to hear your ideas! (For other FREE classroom resources and freebies, sign-up here for teaching ideas to land in your inbox each month. )
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12 Responses
Love the rainbows! I almost ordered that Animal Teeth book through Scholastic this week, but I didn't. Now I wish I had!!
Thanks for the Main Idea freebie! Love it! 🙂
Rachel
A-B-Seymour
How sweet of her!! Wow!! One more reason to looooove blogging!
Jivey
ideas by jivey
How cute did that rainbow turn out? Love it!
How sweet of Kelly to send you those books. I am definitely going to get the teeth book. I have seen so many fantastic activities to go along with it!
The iSchool sounds very interesting. I can't imagine that they work that long and get paid for working late! Crazy!
Thanks for sharing the great math apps! The ocean one is adorable!
ThePolishedTeacher
I love Illuminations, but did not know they had free apps. Thank you so much for sharing. I will definitely be checking that out! Hope you get some much needed rest!
Amy
Eclectic Educating
I love the rainbow on the black background. It is a simple idea, but it looks great!
Enjoy your weekend!
Jenny
Suntans and Lesson Plans
Recess debriefing sounds like a great idea. I agree that most issues stem from recess. I'm blessed in that I NEVER, EVER have to do recess duty. (Our amazing aides do all the duties.) So, I'm sometimes unaware of playground issues until a student or parent tells me!
Heather
All the Dots
You are so sweet! I'm so glad you like the books 🙂 I'm in awe of this iSchool & the presenter's thoughts on teachers & school. I definitely think we need more of that! The recess debriefing is genius – can't wait to use it. We have been having so many problems at recess lately, and this is just what I need. Thank you! 🙂
Kelly
First Grade Fairytales
Thanks for sharing and I L-O-V-E those rainbows!
Hugs!
Irene
Learning With Mrs. Leeby
Our kiddos can always use more practice with main idea! Thank you!
Tamra and Sarah
It was a really interesting PD. I have not heard of Responsive Classroom but will definitely look into it. Thanks, Brittany!
I love those rainbows, adorable.
Terri
The First Grade Princess
I love your passages for reading and writing about main idea and details. We are studying habitats too! I would love to buy some more of your habitat and animal sheets that are like the camel. Could you let me know if you have them for sale in your tpt store or if I could buy some to use. Thank you so much! Love your ideas! [email protected]