Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject: Grade 3/Reading

Central Focus: Comprehension- main idea

Essential Literacy Strategy: summarize plot or main ideas

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

RI.3.2. Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain
how they support the main idea.
Date submitted:
-

Date taught:

My cooperating teacher requested that I use a poem to teach this

standard

Daily Lesson Objective:

After reading a poem, students will complete a flow chart to identify the main idea and the supporting details that provide
evidence for their choice. To be successful, students must include at least 3 details as their evidence and
underline/highlight their evidence in the poem.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and Vocabulary):
Language function: describe
Essential vocabulary: main idea, details, evidence, communicate
Discourse: using line numbers or sentences from the poem to
support the main idea
o ________ is the main idea, evidence from line __,__, and
__ provide details that support this
Prior Knowledge:
Based on the ELA CCSS Standards 2 and 3, students should be able to answer questions like who, what, where, when,
why, and how to demonstrate understanding and refer to parts of poems using terms such as line and stanza. Students
should also have an understanding of how to find main idea from other types of text. Students should have an
understanding how to use a flow chart.
Activity
1. Focus and Review

2. Statement of Objective
for Student
3. Teacher Input

Description of Activities and Setting

When you are reading a poem you have learned how important it is to reread
it multiple times to understand what the poem is about. Can someone tell me
what it means to find the main idea of a text?
Today, you are going to learn how to find the main idea of a poem by using
details from the text. After we practice together youll be able to identify the
main idea of poems on your own. Knowing what the main idea of a poem is
important because it helps you understand what the author is trying to
communicate in their writing.
The main idea of a poem describes what the poem is mainly about or what
the author is trying to tell us. To find the main idea of a poem you must read
through the poem and finding the details that support what you believe the
poem is mostly about or what the author is trying to tell you. You could ask
yourself questions like: what is this poem mostly about? or what is the
author trying to tell me in this poem?. A poem may have a different main
ideas for different people. As long as you are able to provide evidence to
support your choice of main idea and it makes sense, it is correct. When we
are trying to find out what the main idea is, we do it after read. It requires us
to go back through the poem and find details that provide evidence to prove
what we believe the main idea is. Details from the poem describe what the
author is talking about. After finding these details, we need to ask ourselves:
does this support what I think the main idea is? Good readers look for the
main idea in a poem because it helps them understand what the author is
trying to communicate to their reader.

Time
3 min

1 min
15-20 min

Explain that students will learn how to find the main idea of a poem by using
details as evidence to support their choice. Ask students to identify what types
of details can be used as evidence to support the main idea they have chosen
(details that explain what is happening/what is being written about). Let
students know that they will be using a flow chart to complete this activity.
The top box is where they will write what they believe the main idea is and
the three connecting boxes will be where they write the details that provide
evidence.
Introduce the poem Beetle and tell students that as you read, you will show
them how to use details from the poem as evidence to prove the main idea.
Fill in the flow chart as you go and then underline the details that provide
evidence. Students should listen to try and identify details that support the
main idea.
Read poem aloud. Now, I am going to read this poem one more time and
think about what the main idea could be. I think that the main idea is about his
beetle running away. Write beetle running away in the top box of the flow
chart. Now I am going to read through the poem again and underline details
that provide evidence to support my main idea. Underline line 1, 4, 5, 6, and
7. I am going to underline line 1 because it talks about the poet finding a
beetle, so I know this poem is about a beetle. Then, I am going to underline
lines 4, 5, 6, and 7 because they talk about the poets Nanny letting out the
beetle and it running away. If I look back at line 2, I can see that this is not
talking about a beetle, so I am not going to underline it. Now that I have
underlined my evidence I am going to finish filling in my flow chart. In the
first box write beetle, in the second box Nanny let beetle out, and in the
third box write beetle ran away. Explain to students that they can also write
line numbers (point to each line to show correspondence); the first box would
be line 1, the second box would be line 4, 5, and 7, the third box line 6.
To decide what details are important I am going to think about what I believe
the main idea of the poem is. The details I am looking for provide evidence
for the main idea I have chosen. Good readers look for the main idea of poems
after they read to understand what the author is trying to communicate to their
reader.
On the overhead, put up the poem How to Eat a Poem by Eve Merriam. As
you read, ask students to listen and decide what they think the main idea of
the poem is. Have the students think about what they think the main idea of
the poem is and then share with their partner. Then, have the students read the
poem again to themselves and raise their hand once they have finished.

4. Guided Practice

5. Independent Practice

As a whole class complete a flow chart for How to Eat a Poem. Using
students numbered sticks, ask a few students to share what they think the main
idea of the poem is. Fill in the top part of the flow chart, you may need to
create multiple flow charts. As you read again, think about the details that
provide evidence that supports your main idea. Then, ask students to explain
the details that provide evidence that supports their main idea by underlining
it in the poem. Ask students to explain the details they have underline and how
this supports their main idea.
Main idea (not limited to): poem is like fruit
Details (not limited to): line 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Students will work independently to create and complete their own flow chart
in their reading notebook. Provide students with a choice of poems; Merry
Sunshine, Where go the Boats?, The Little Busy Bee, and Who Likes the Rain?
Have students pick 1 poem to complete a main idea flow chart for.

10-15 min

10-15min

Criteria for Evaluation Students Products:

- Mastery: Student has filled in flow chart with main idea and 3 supporting details
(sentences from poem or line numbers). Student has underlined evidence in poem
to prove main idea.
- Partial Mastery: Student has filled in flow chart with main idea and 2 or less

supporting details (sentences from poem or line numbers). Student has

underlined evidence in poem to prove main idea.
-

Non Mastery: Student has filled in flow chart with no main idea and/or no
supporting details. Student has not underlined evidence in poem.

6. Assessment Methods of
all objectives/skills:
Poem
Where Go The Boats?
The Little Busy Bee
Merry Sunshine
Who Likes the Rain?

7. Closure

Main Idea
Boats travelling, different
places boats go
Bees are busy/hard workers
What the sun does, life/job
of the sun
Things that like the rain

Evidence
Line 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12
Line 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13
Line 1, 2, 9, 11, 13, 14
Line 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 13

Why is it important to find the main idea of a poem? What do we need from
the text to prove the main idea?

8. Assessment Results of
all objectives/skills:
Targeted Students Modifications/Accommodations:

Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations:

Struggling students: will be given a pre-made flow chart, as
well as a sentence strip (_______ is the main idea of the poem.
Evidence from lines ___, ___, and ___ provide details that
support this) to aid them in filling in the flow chart.

Materials/Technology:
(Include any instructional materials (e.g., worksheets, assessments PowerPoint/SmartBoard slides, etc.) needed to implement the lesson at the end of the lesson plan.)
Projector
Poem: Beetle by A.A Milne
Poem: How to Eat a Poem by Eve Merriam
Student poems at: http://www.bcsaschools.org/pdfdocs/Third%20and%20Fourth%20Grade.pdf
o
Who Likes the Rain? By Clara Doty Bates
o
The Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts
o
Where go the Boats? By Robert Louis Stevenson
o
Merry Sunshine
Pencil / highlighter
Notebook/paper to create flow chart

References:
- http://www.bcsaschools.org/pdfdocs/Third%20and%20Fourth%20Grade.pdf
- https://betterlesson.com/community/lesson/13855/narrative-poetry-main-idea
- Deciding What is Important- Document
Reflection on lesson (if taught):

_______ is the main idea of the poem.

Evidence from lines ___, ___, and ___
provide detail that support this.