Scott Foresman Reading Street

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Main Idea
Text Structure

Test

Selection Test:
Unit 6
Benchmark Tests: Units 2, 6

Reteach/
Review

TE: 3.2 173b, 223b,
233, 241, DI•54;
3.6 303b, 339, 391, 397, DI•52

PB: 3.1 53,
57–58,73, 77–78, 86; 3.2 103,
107–108, 126, 146

Practice

TE: 3.2 150–151,
198–199,
3.6 284–285

Introduce/
Teach

Main Idea and Details

	Determine main idea and identify details.
	Use text structure to identify main idea.

INTRODUCE

Write the topic "Neighbors" and add details: The Gonzales family moved to the neighborhood from Mexico. The Adams family moved here from Maine. The Buckley family has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. Ask what might be the main idea in an article with this topic and details. (Possible response: People in a neighborhood come from many different places.)

Have students read the information on
p. 284. Explain the following:

A main idea is what a paragraph or passage is mostly about.
Supporting details provide more information about a main idea.
The way in which a passage is organized, or its text structure, can help you identify main ideas.

Use Skill Transparency 26 to teach main idea and text structure.

TEACH

STRATEGY Discuss how the text

structure can help you identify main ideas.

MODEL The first
paragraph ends with a
statement followed by
a question. The statement is "America has been called a
‘Nation of Immigrants.'" Then the
author wrote the question "Why?"
This structure gives me a clue.
The next sentences will likely
give details about the main idea
that America is a nation of
immigrants.

SKILL Use paragraph 3 to model

how to determine main idea and supporting details.

MODEL I ask myself,
"What is the paragraph all about?" I decide that the big idea of the paragraph is that people come to America
for different reasons. The other
sentences in the paragraph
give more information about the
main idea.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

STRATEGY Main idea: "America

has been called a ‘Nation of Immigrants.'" Supporting detail: "Everyone who lives in America now (except for Native Americans) once came from somewhere else."

SKILL Main idea: "People become

immigrants for different reasons." Supporting details: Religious freedom, to escape war or hunger, for adventure, to have a better life for themselves and their children.

WRITE Have students complete

steps 1 and 2 of the Write to Read activity. You might consider using this as a whole class activity.

then… use Practice Book
3.2 p. 103 to provide additional practice.

If… students are unable to complete Write
to Read on
p. 284,

Main Idea

Available as Skill Transparency 26

Strategy
Text Structure

Skill
Main Idea
and Details

The small pieces of information that tell about the main idea are the supporting details.

The main idea is the most important idea in a selection or a paragraph.

Main Idea and Details

The country where you were born is called your homeland. People who leave their homeland and
come to another country—such as America—are
called immigrants. America has been called a
“Nation of Immigrants.” Why?
Everyone who lives in America now (except for
Native Americans) once came from somewhere else.

Strategy Here is a
key word—why—
that gives you a clue. The next part of this selection will probably answer that
question.

Supporting Detail

Main Idea

This may have happened a very long time ago in your family. Maybe the ones to come to America were your great-great-great-great-great grandparents. Or maybe you and your family arrived here recently.
Immigrants leave their homeland for different reasons. Some came to America looking for religious freedom. Some came to escape war or hunger. Others came for adventure. But mostly, people came looking for a better life for themselves and their children.

Skill Here is the
main idea of this paragraph—people came to America for many reasons. Now read on to find the supporting details.

Active readers think about how a selection is
organized and written. It's a good idea to look
for key words in the text, such as who, what,
where, why, and when. These key words will
give you details about the main idea.

Strategy: Text Structure

The next time you have a coin, turn it over
and look for the motto of the United States on
the back. The words are in Latin, and they say
E pluribus unum. They mean “Out of many, one.”
People came to America from all over the
world, but together, we are one nation!

2. Write a paragraph about where your ancestors
came from.

1. Read "Coming to America."
    Then make a graphic organizer
    like the one above to show the
    main idea and details.



	Close
	Access Content Beginning/Intermediate For a Picture It! lesson on main idea and supporting details, see the ELL Teaching Guide, pp. 176–177. Advanced Encourage students to share their family’s immigration experience. Did their parents and/or grandparents come to America? From where did they come? Why did they come? Main Idea Help students become familiar with the graphic organizer on p. 284. Begin by presenting a common situation, such as the one in the "Introduce" activity on the page. Model how to fill in the main idea sentence in the graphic organizer. Then invite volunteers to indicate where to write each supporting detail. Explain the graphic organizer's arrow directionality, which helps reinforce the idea that the supporting details give more information about the main idea. Practice Book 3.2 p. 103 with \| without Answers