Review Main Idea at the End of the School Year
The end of the year is coming fast…and I can hardly believe it. It feels like this year has somehow flown by and crawled along at the exact same time. But now, it’s mid-April and it’s time to review all of the skills you’ve taught all year long! Today, I have a round-up of ways to review Main Idea at the end of the school year. You may be prepping for a state test, or simply want some engaging ways to practice skills when you run out of curriculum. Either way, these ideas will be a hit with your students!
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Review Idea 1: Find the Main Idea of Books
Here are a few of my favorite read alouds for finding the main idea. These books have a clear main idea that will be easy for you to teach and for your students to find! A few of these are also perfect for spring time, which makes them even more engaging!
Review Idea 2: Teach the Main Idea Recipe!
I think the ideal way to cement main idea learning in our students is to give them concrete steps to follow. For those students who haven’t quite grasped the concept of how to use the text to find the main idea, this recipe takes them through pulling ‘ingredients’ out of the text. Those ingredients are things like the title, headings, photos, repeated words, etc. Those ingredients make the main idea. When they put all of the ingredients together, one common theme should be clear, making it easier to see the main idea!
You can grab my main idea recipe HERE. This is to be used with any text, including the books I listed above!
Review Idea 3: Play a Game!
Playing a review game can be made super simple! I like to play ‘mystery points’ with my class. This can be done in small groups or as a whole group! This is how you play:
Choose a text. (I have main idea reading passages that are prefect for this game HERE!)
Write a bunch of random points on the back of sticky notes. You can even be extra sneaky and do negative values! So on the back of sticky notes you can do +5, +10, -8, -2, +0, etc. I recommend writing in pencil so it’s not visible from the outside!
Stick the sticky notes on your whiteboard, or on your small group table if you’re playing in groups.
As students work through the passages, call on students to share answers to different questions, or to find text evidence. If they get it right, they get to come choose a sticky note! The mystery point value is what makes it super fun. (Note: if you play this whole group, I recommend putting students in teams to work through passages together and earn points as a team. That way, you don’t need to make a zillion sticky notes!)
