Routine · Comprehension
Main idea in a short summary
Name who or what a paragraph is about and the most important thing about it, then say it in about ten words.
- Time
- 6 to 10 minutes
- Skill
- Comprehension
- In a session plan
- Library only
When to use it
For students who retell everything when asked for the main idea, especially in information texts.
Materials
- A short information text with clear paragraphs
Steps
Get ready
Read the first paragraph together.
I do
Ask yourself two questions aloud: who or what is this about, and what is the most important thing about it? Join the answers into one short sentence and count the words.
We do
Do the next paragraph together. Cross out details that are interesting but not the main thing.
You do
The student writes a short summary sentence for each remaining paragraph.
Student: Names the topic and the key point in about ten words.
Check
The student joins the paragraph sentences into a summary of the whole text.
If the student...
Writes a detail instead of the main point.
Ask if the whole paragraph is about that. Look again for what every sentence has in common, and rewrite the summary together.
Tips
- A word limit forces choices. Ten words is a good place to start.
- In a group, compare summaries and vote on the one that says the most in the fewest words.
Original routines written by Literacy Trail. In the app, every routine is filled with your student's lesson.
Related routines
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- Picture-book read-aloud with promptsRead a picture book aloud, stopping at planned points for open questions that get the student thinking and talking.10 to 15 minutes · Library only
- Where is the answer?Sort questions by where the answer comes from: right there in one place, spread across the text, or from the reader's own thinking.8 to 12 minutes · Library only
Have this routine filled in for every lesson
In Literacy Trail, the session plan picks a routine for each block and fills it with the words, sounds and sentence from your student's lesson. Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial.