Unless upper elementary students have a solid understanding of main idea, it might be difficult for them to fill in a blank main idea graphic organizer without any support.
Scaffold this difficult skill by providing students with both the main idea and the details statements that go in the graphic organizer – but not telling them which statement is the main idea and which are the details. This gives students much-needed practice with distinguishing between main idea and supporting details without the overwhelm.
Minimize your prep work with this free main idea resource with a scaffolded graphic organizer and reading passage! Or, check out these tips for teaching main idea so students actually understand.
You might also like these point of view graphic organizers!
