Jaime Allen

Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd Grade
Central Focus: Finding Main Idea and Supporting Details
Literacy
Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from
Date submitted:
Date
diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or
taught:
moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in
the text.
Daily Lesson Objective: The student will use main idea and supporting details to expand
understanding of a variety of texts.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and
Vocabulary):
Main Idea, supporting details, identify, discuss, construct,
and reflect.
Prior Knowledge:
Students should know how to identify the reoccurring idea in a paragraph and identify
unimportant details in a passage.
Activity

1. Focus
and Review

2.
Statement
of Objective
for
Student

Description of Activities and Setting

Review the three ways to find the main idea in a text. As you review the
three strategies, write them on the board for students to refer to later.
Read aloud the following short passage, and ask students to
actively listen for the main idea using the strategies you
reviewed/discussed.
Robots are being used in sumo wrestling contests. Sumo wrestling
is a sport that started in Japan. It takes place in a ring. Two players
try to score points by holding each other down or pushing each
other out of the ring. Robot sumo uses robots instead of humans.
The robot that scores the most points wins.
When finished reading the passage, ask students to write what
they think the main idea is on a sticky note.
Students will turn to a partner to think, pair, and share their ideas.
Pull the class together by calling on a few students to share what
they have written on a sticky note.
As a class, establish a concrete main idea, and close the review
session by walking through each strategy to explain how you used
them to find the central focus.
I will actively listen, participate, discuss, and identify the supporting
details in a text that lead me to find the main idea.

Time

10
minut
es

3. Teacher
Input

4. Guided
Practice

Introduce the idea of supporting details to students.

Today we will learn how to find key details in a story that support the
main idea! Who can tell me what they think supporting details are? How
can we find supporting details? How do we determine the difference
between a minor detail and a major, key detail?
Allow students to think, pair, and share their thoughts about the
previous questions with a fellow classmate.
Display the pre-drawn ice cream scoop anchor chart on the board
for all students to see. Explain the connection between the ice
cream scoop model and supporting details.
Each scoop of ice cream represents a supporting detail! The cone
(the base) represents the main idea! Supporting details are
reasons, examples, facts, steps, or other kinds of evidence that
back up and explain a main idea.
As a class, fill in all missing information on the anchor chart.
Ask a student to read aloud the short passage found at the bottom
of the anchor chart.
When the student is finished reading, ask students to think, pair,
and share with a surrounding student what they think the
supporting details are
After a few minutes, bring students back together (clap, clap, clapclap- clap and wait for a response clap)
Read the passage aloud one more time to refresh the students
memory.
Ask for volunteers to read aloud what they think the major details
are. If the student is right, instruct them to underline the sentence
containing the major supporting detail on the anchor chart.
Write the supporting details each student underlines beside one of
the three ice cream scoops on the chart.
Once 3 supporting details have been identified, begin to discuss
the main idea. Now that we have found our three supporting
details, we need to find our main idea! We use the evidence we
have just found to support our main idea! Turn to a classmate and
share your ideas about the main idea in this passage! (Allow 2
minutes for students to discuss the main idea) Ask for volunteers
to share their thoughts with the class.
Establish the main idea together as a class and write it beside the cone

7-10
minut
es

12-15
minut
es

5.
Independent
Practice

on the anchor chart.

Give each student a piece of colored construction paper.
Give each student a copy of the read passage, All About the Moon.

Instruct students to draw the model of the 3 scoops of ice cream

10-15
minut
es

6.
Assessment
Methods of
all
objectives/s
kills:

and cone found on the anchor chart previously completed.

Students will read the passage, identify the supporting details and
main idea, and then write them on their paper beside the correct
item.
Collect for assessment data.
Collect supporting detail/main idea ice cream worksheets.
I expect each student to correctly identify 2 out of 3 supporting details.
I expect every student to correctly identify the main idea.

Instruct students to fill out the following worksheet before packing

up to leave.
Ask for 4 volunteers to share their thoughts from each question.
Every student needs to share at least one thought with the class
before exiting.
Collect worksheets for feedback.

7-10
minut
es

7. Closure

8.
Assessment
Results of
all
objectives/s
kills:

The majority of students correctly identified 2 out of 3 supporting details.

22 out of 25 correctly identified the main idea from the passage.
Example of 1 students work:

Targeted Students
Modifications/Accommodations:

Student/Small Group
Modifications/Accommodations:
- Students on lower reading levels will work
with teacher as a small group at the back of
the room.
- Students will work on worksheet as a group
instead of working independently.

Materials/Technology:
(Include any instructional materials (e.g., worksheets, assessments PowerPoint/Smart Board slides, etc.) needed to implement the lesson at
the end of the lesson plan.)

White board, dry-erase markers, ice cream anchor chart, 25 pieces of construction paper, 25 copies of All
About the Moon worksheet, 25 copies of the exit ticket worksheet.

Reflection on lesson:
I loved teaching this lesson! Students were engaged and were about to easily make connections
to the text due to the visuals I used throughout the lesson. I chose to do this lesson primarily as
a whole group, direct instruction format because the majority of the students in this class are on
the same reading level. I did not have to differentiate my instruction due to different levels of
comprehension. At the beginning of this lesson, I wish I had spent more time reviewing the
bigger picture of main idea, and the importance of mastering the literacy skill. The students
loved the ice cream idea on the anchor chart, and loved volunteering to share their ideas. As we
moved into independent practice, the students enjoyed drawing their own ice cream cones. I
gave them the option to draw a graphic organizer if it helped them visualize the idea of
supporting the main idea better. I was very pleased with the assessment results because I feel
like I am helping them truly master the art of finding main idea, and providing the evidence to
support their thoughts using context clues. The exit ticket provided me the feedback I needed to
determine if I needed to spend another day reviewing main idea and supporting details, and will
help me in the future to answer the questions they still have after the lesson and activities.
Overall, I am pleased with the results of this lesson and plan to use it in the future as a

professional teacher.