Transcript Reading Comprehension 2.3 - Alliance Richard Merkin Middle

Reading
Comprehension 2.3
Connecting and Clarifying
Main Ideas
1
Learning Objective
We will connect and clarify
main ideas by identifying their
relationships to other sources
and related topics.
Check for Understanding
What are we going to do today?
What will we connect and clarify?
Prior Knowledge
Main Idea:
The main idea is the most important
thing a writer has to say about the
topic or subject.
The main idea answers the question
“What about it?” What about love,
dogs, or growing up?
Concept Development
Clarify:
– to make (an idea, statement, etc.) clear or
understandable
– to free the mind from confusion
Identifying:
– to indicate or recognize who or what (someone
or something) is
Relationship:
– the way in which two or more concepts, objects,
or people are connected
Concept Development
Source:
– A book, statement, person, article, etc.
that supplies information.
– A place from which something comes or
is obtained; origin.
Connecting:
– To show similarities or differences
between sources.
Connecting Sources & Main Ideas
Example: While reading my Social
Studies textbook, I identified the main idea
of Abraham Lincoln ending slavery.
Which other source would best support
this main idea?
Maybe a biography written about Lincoln’s
life would give related information.
Skill Development
1. First, read the paragraph and focus on
determining the topic. Look for a word or phrase
that is repeated over and over. It is often found in
the first or last sentence.
2. Next, what is the main idea? Ask yourself, what
does the author want you to know about the topic
and write this in a sentence?
Skill Development
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Skills Development
3. Then, find and underline the evidence in the
paragraph to support the main idea.
4. Then, ask yourself “Does the evidence prove your
main idea?”
5. Finally, ask yourself “Where would this passage
most likely be found? What type of source would
it be found in based on the main idea?” For
example, a news article or a text book.
Guided Practice
One hundred viruses placed side by side would be no wider than
a human hair. But these germs cause more than fifty diseases.
Chicken pox, colds, and rabies are all caused by viruses. More
than 21 million people have died from the flu caused by these
germs. Scientists are seeking ways to get rid of these tiny killers.
1. What is the passage mostly about?
a) Tiny viruses cause deadly diseases.
b) Many people die from the flu.
c) Chicken pox is caused by a virus.
d) Many people have died from viruses.
Skill Development
10
Guided Practice
One hundred viruses placed side by side would be no wider
than a human hair. But these germs cause more than fifty
diseases. Chicken pox, colds, and rabies are all caused by
viruses. More than 21 million people have died from the flu
caused by these germs. Scientists are seeking ways to get rid
of these tiny killers.
2. Which of the following books would be the best choice for
learning more about the main idea presented in this article?
a) Science Overview
b) The Complete Book of Experiments
c) Unseen Killers: Viruses
d) Chicken Pox Handbook
Skill Development
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Guided Practice
Plant experts in Bolivia have found some odd potato
plants. The potato leaves make a sticky glue. Insects
walk on the plant, get caught, and starve. Scientists
want to breed more potatoes with these sticky leaves.
Farmers would be able to grow potatoes and not have
to spray their plants with chemicals to get rid of
insects.
3. What is the passage mostly about?
a) Insects are caught by potato plants.
b) Potato plants grow in Bolivia.
c) A special potato plant may be helpful to farmers.
d) Chemical sprays help to kill insects.
Guided Practice
Plant experts in Bolivia have found some odd potato
plants. The potato leaves make a sticky glue. Insects
walk on the plant, get caught, and starve. Scientists
want to breed more potatoes with these sticky leaves.
Farmers would be able to grow potatoes and not have
to spray their plants with chemicals to get rid of
insects.
4. Which of the following sources would provide the best evidence
to support the ideas in this paragraph?
a) A book about the history of potato plants.
b) An editorial calling for more funding to study this sticky glue.
c) A current events newspaper article about the potato plant leaf.
d) A novel about life in Bolivia.
Guided Practice
from the Wizard of Oz… Dorothy lived in the midst of
the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was
a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.
Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to
be carried by wagon many miles. Uncle Henry and
Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner and Dorothy a
little bed in another corner.
3. This selection is most likely part of a) An autobiography.
b) A newspaper article.
c) A folk tale.
d) A novel.
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Closure
What is a main idea?
What is a source?
How do you connect and clarify main ideas?