A child is reading a short passage about wild turkeys, and the teacher has asked her to box the topic, underline the main idea, and circle three supporting details. She boxes "wild turkeys" at the top, and then she reads the first sentence again, slowly, because the first sentence says what the passage is mostly about. She underlines it. Then she reads the rest, looking for three details that support it, and she circles them, one by one. When she is done, she writes the topic, the main idea and the three details on a turkey made of feathers, and the turkey is the answer. The main idea was in the passage all along. She just had to find it.
The Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Passages is built for that finding, six times over. It has 6 short nonfiction passages about wild turkeys, the Mayflower, the Wampanoag people, the 1621 harvest feast, cranberries and Sarah Josepha Hale, each in two levels with the same facts, plus themed graphic organizers and full answer keys. Students box the topic, underline the main idea and circle three supporting details, then write them on a turkey, a ship, a basket of corn, a pie, a bowl of cranberries or a letter. The pages are black and white on US Letter paper, and the listing states 37 pages. Answer keys are included. The grade range is 3rd through 4th grade, stated the same way in the description and the listing's Highlights field. The teaching duration stated in the listing is one week.
What Main Idea Is, and Why It Is Hard
Main idea is the hardest reading skill to teach, because it is not a thing in the passage — it is a thing the reader has to build. The topic is in the passage: wild turkeys, the Mayflower, cranberries. The main idea is what the passage says about the topic, and the saying has to be put together from the sentences. A child who can find the topic but not the main idea is a child who can see the subject but not the point, and the point is the skill.
The reason it is hard is that the main idea is not always in the same place. Sometimes it is the first sentence, and the child can find it by reading the first line. Sometimes it is in the middle, or at the end, and the child has to read the whole passage to find it. Sometimes it is not stated at all, and the child has to infer it from the details. A child who has only ever found the main idea in the first sentence will be lost the first time it moves, and the moving is the lesson.
That is why the two levels in this set matter. In Level 1 the main idea is the first sentence, and the child learns the move: read the first sentence, and that is the main idea. In Level 2 it moves to the middle or the end, or it is not stated at all, so students infer it. The child who has done Level 1 knows what a main idea is, and the child who does Level 2 learns that it can hide. The hiding is the teaching, and the two levels are the way to teach it without losing the child.
The Six Passages
The six passages are short nonfiction, and each one is about a Thanksgiving topic the children are already curious about. Wild turkeys: what they eat, where they live, how they survive the winter. The Mayflower: the ship, the journey, the people on it. The Wampanoag people: who they were, how they lived, what they knew about the land. The 1621 harvest feast: what happened, who was there, what they ate. Cranberries: where they grow, how they are harvested, why they matter. Sarah Josepha Hale: the woman who wrote the letter that made Thanksgiving a holiday.
Each passage in the Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Passages comes in two levels with the same facts, and the same facts are the point. A class can read the same passage at two levels and talk about it together, and the talk is the same talk: what is the topic, what is the main idea, what are the three details. The facts do not change between the levels. The reading level does, and the main idea's place does, and that is all that changes. A teacher who has a class with two reading levels can teach one lesson, and the lesson works for both.
The passages are short on purpose. A short passage is a passage a child can read twice, and the second reading is the one where the main idea appears. A long passage is a passage a child reads once and forgets, and the forgetting is the problem. Six short passages, read twice each, is more teaching than one long passage read once, and the six-day plan in the set is built on that: one passage a day, read twice, and the main idea found both times. The second reading is also the one where the details appear, because the first reading is for the story and the second reading is for the finding, and a child who reads twice has read for meaning and for evidence.
The Two Levels: First Sentence, Then Inference
In Level 1 the main idea is the first sentence. The child reads the first sentence, underlines it, and the main idea is found. The rest of the passage is the details, and the child circles three of them. The move is simple, and the simplicity is the teaching: the main idea is a sentence, the details are sentences, and the difference between them is the job of the reader.
In Level 2 the main idea moves. It is in the middle, or at the end, or it is not stated at all, and the child has to infer it. The inferring is the hard part, and it is the part that needs teaching: read all the details, ask what they have in common, and the common thing is the main idea. A child who can infer the main idea is a child who can read, and the inferring is the skill that will matter in every subject after reading.
Teach Level 1 first, and do not move to Level 2 until the children can find the main idea in the first sentence every time. A child who cannot find it in the first sentence will not find it in the middle, and the moving on is the mistake. The two levels are a ladder, and the ladder is climbed one rung at a time. The answer keys give the topic, the main idea, where it is found, model details, challenge answers and a model summary, so the teacher can see what the children should have found.
The Themed Graphic Organizers
The graphic organizers are the part the children remember. Six themed organizers — turkey feathers, ship sails, corn and basket, pies, cranberries and bowl, letter and envelopes — and each one matches a passage. The child reads the passage, finds the topic, the main idea and the three details, and writes them on the organizer. The turkey feathers hold the details. The ship sails hold the main idea. The corn and the basket hold the topic. The organizer is the answer, and the answer is a picture.
The themed organizers work because they are worth doing. A worksheet with three blank lines is a worksheet, and a turkey made of feathers is a thing the child wants to finish. The wanting is the motivation, and the motivation is what gets the child to read the passage twice. The organizers are not decoration. They are the reason the children do the work carefully, and the care is the learning.
Two organizers for any text — a Main Idea Table and a Main Idea and Summary — extend the set beyond the six passages. A child who has used the turkey feathers can use the Main Idea Table on any passage, in any subject, and the table is the transfer. The transfer is the goal: the main idea skill, learned on Thanksgiving passages, used on a science passage in January. The two any-text organizers are the bridge, and the bridge is worth teaching explicitly.
Think Deeper and the Anchor Charts
Each passage has a Think Deeper page, and the page is the challenge for strong readers. Best main idea, a supporting detail, a word meaning, a 2-sentence summary — four moves that ask the child to think harder about a passage they have already read. The Think Deeper page is not more work. It is deeper work, and the depth is the point. A child who has found the main idea and is ready for more should not be given another passage. They should be given a deeper question about the one they have read.
The two anchor charts — Topic, Main Idea, Details and Where Is the Main Idea? — put the strategy on the wall. A chart on the wall is a reminder the teacher does not have to give, and a child who looks at the wall instead of asking the teacher is a child who is working independently. The Where Is the Main Idea? chart is the one that matters most, because it tells the child the main idea can be in the first sentence, the middle, the end, or nowhere at all — and the nowhere is the inferring, and the inferring is the skill. The Think Deeper page is also the one to use for the children who finish early, because a child who has found the main idea and is sitting with nothing to do is a child who will get bored, and a bored child will stop reading. The challenge page is the work for the fast finisher, and the work is the thinking, not more of the same.
Use the anchor charts at the start of every lesson, and point to them while the children work. A chart that is pointed at is a chart that is used, and a chart that is never pointed at is a chart that is wallpaper. The pointing takes five seconds, and the five seconds are the teaching. The charts are the strategy, and the strategy is the lesson.
The Six-Day Plan
The set includes a 6-day plan, and one way to run it follows the plan's shape. Day one is the wild turkeys passage: read it twice, box the topic, underline the main idea, circle three details, write them on the turkey feathers. Day two is the Mayflower, and the ship sails. Day three is the Wampanoag people, and the corn and basket. Day four is the 1621 harvest feast, and the pies. Day five is the cranberries, and the bowl. Day six is Sarah Josepha Hale, and the letter.
The teaching duration stated in the listing is one week, and the six-day plan fits inside it with room for review. One passage a day, read twice, and the week is a routine the children can feel. The six-day plan is the week, and the week is the unit: six passages, six organizers, six main ideas found, and the finding is the skill. The routine is the teaching: the same three moves, every day, on a new passage, and the moves become automatic. A child who has done the three moves six times can do them on a seventh passage without being told, and the seventh passage is the transfer.
The Main Idea Expert certificate closes the week, and it is worth giving out for the finding, not for the scores. A child who has found six main ideas has done six pieces of reading, and the certificate says so. The certificate is a record of the work, and the work is what the child controls. Teacher Notes with standards are included, and they are worth reading before the week starts. The notes name the things that go wrong — the topic mistaken for the main idea, the detail mistaken for the main idea, the child who will not infer — and the fixes that work, so the teacher is ready for the mistakes before the children make them.
What to Watch For
Three things go wrong with main idea, and all three are easy to prevent. The first is the topic mistaken for the main idea. A child writes "wild turkeys" as the main idea, and the topic is not the main idea — the main idea is what the passage says about wild turkeys. The fix is the sentence: "Say it in a sentence." A main idea is a sentence, and a topic is a word or two, and the sentence is the test.
The second is the detail mistaken for the main idea. A child underlines a detail — "turkeys eat acorns" — and the detail is true, and it is not the main idea. The fix is the question: "Is the whole passage about that, or just that sentence?" A detail is about one sentence. A main idea is about the whole passage, and the question is the test.
The third is the child who will not infer. A child who has only ever found the main idea in the first sentence will say "it is not there" when it moves, and the saying is the problem. The fix is the reading: "Read all the details, and ask what they have in common." The common thing is the main idea, and the asking is the inferring. The inferring is the skill, and the skill is the lesson.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades are the Thanksgiving reading passages for?
They are written for 3rd and 4th grade. The description and the listing's Highlights field both say 3rd–4th. The teaching duration stated in the listing is one week.
What are the passages about?
Six passages: wild turkeys, the Mayflower, the Wampanoag people, the 1621 harvest feast, cranberries and Sarah Josepha Hale. Each passage comes in two levels with the same facts.
How are the two levels different?
In Level 1 the main idea is the first sentence. In Level 2 it moves to the middle or the end, or it is not stated at all, so students infer it.
Is there an answer key?
Yes. Answer keys are included, with the topic, the main idea, where it is found, model details, challenge answers and a model summary.
What graphic organizers are included?
Six themed organizers — turkey feathers, ship sails, corn and basket, pies, cranberries and bowl, letter and envelopes — plus two organizers for any text, a Main Idea Table and a Main Idea and Summary.
How does the six-day plan work?
One passage a day, read twice: box the topic, underline the main idea, circle three supporting details, and write them on the themed organizer. The Think Deeper page adds a challenge for strong readers.
