Standard #: LAFS.3.RI.1.2 (Archived Standard)

In this lesson, students will explore vocabulary, answer questions about the text, and identify the details and the central idea of an informational text about dolphins. Students will demonstrate their new knowledge about this amazing animal by completing an expository paragraph.

This 3rd grade MEA asks students to work as a team to figure out which candidate is the best possible choice for the 8th grade boys' basketball coach. They will have to analyze data, decide on a procedure, and create a ranking system to choose the best candidate. They are also given multiplication and division problems based on the data.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

In this lesson, students will identify the relevant details and central idea of two informational texts about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They will then compare and contrast the two presidents using a graphic organizer and write an expository essay to explain the presidents' similarities and differences.

In this lesson, students will learn to identify the central idea and explain how key details support that idea in an informational text. They will use that information to create trading cards about the three levels of government and write a paragraph summarizing the text and what they've learned.

Students use a variety of texts to find key details that lead them to the central idea. Students will use a graphic organizer that will guide them in learning that the relevant details within a text will lead them to determining the central idea. Students will summarize a text using central idea and relevant details to build summary.

This lesson is designed to help students identify the central idea and relevant details of a text using the topic of inventions.

Students will write a summary of the text Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins. In doing so, students will focus on identifying the central idea and relevant details in the text. Students will participate in vocabulary development activities to aid in the understanding of the informational text.

In this lesson, students will use non-fiction books on the subject of spiders to find key details in the text that lead them to the main idea. Students will use a graphic organizer that shows the concept as a math problem in which the key details from the text are added up to find the main idea. At the end of the lesson, students will create a poster utilizing key details and main idea from a book about an arachnid.

Students will learn about heat through a video, a kinesthetic activity and summarizing informational text. This lesson can be completed in two 40 minute time period or over two days. Students will be able to demonstrate and explain the way heat moves from one object to another.

Students will learn about some of the behaviors of light, specifically refraction, through a video, a kinesthetic activity and summarizing informational text. Students will be able explain what causes a shadow by understanding the way light travels as well as explain refraction of light. This lesson can be completed in two 40 minute time periods or over two days.

Students will be able to identify characteristics of electrical energy. This lesson can be completed in one 80 minute time period or over two days. Students will learn about electrical energy, circuits, conductors and insulators through video, a hands on exploration and summarizing informational text.

In this lesson, students will learn about mammals using the book Mammals by Melissa Stewart. Through this book, the students will practice identifying and using text features to understand the text, as well as determine key details and main idea. The students will then create a newspaper article about a mammal of their choice using the main ideas, key details, and text features from Mammals.

In this lesson, students will identify and use text features to learn about reptiles while reading the book REPTILES by Melissa Stewart. As the students practice identifying and using text features, they will also identify relevant details in the text. Using the text features and relevant details, students will identify the central idea. The students will then create a Reptile Poster using central ideas, relevant details, and text features. This lesson will use the text Reptiles by Melissa Stewart. However, this lesson can be done with any reptile-based book.

Students will find the central idea and relevant details in informational texts about bats. To support students finding the central idea and details, students will use a fact gathering sheet. Students will write a central idea and details paragraph that includes appropriate content-area vocabulary and grade-level conventions.

Using a main idea and details graphic organizer, students will identify the main idea, key details, and explain how the details support the main idea about different forms of energy.

In this lesson, students will learn about different forms of energy and how to find the main idea and key details in informational text. Included with the lesson is an anticipation guide to assess prior knowledge, plus a rubric to score the students' summative assessment. Also present is a list of books to choose from so that teachers can use the books that fit their students best.

In this lesson, the students will use key details to identify the main idea of informational text about vertebrates.

In this lesson, students will use relevant details to determine the central idea of informational text about landmarks. Students will work in small groups to read an informational text about landmarks, fill out a graphic organizer, and then create a poster in the shape of the landmark they read about. Students will present their landmark posters to the class.

Students will be able to identify characteristics of sound energy, such as pitch and volume. This lesson can be completed in one 45 minute time period or over two days. Students will learn about sound through video, a hands on project and summarizing informational text.

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text, supporting details in informational text and explain how the details support the main idea.

In this activity, students will identify significant and minor details in text.

In this activity, students will summarize text (narrative and expository) using a graphic organizer.

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text, supporting details in informational text and explain how the details support the main idea.