I put a little twist on our main idea task cards a few months ago and turned it into a cooperative activity!  We loved it, and I can’t believe I forgot to post about it here.

Main Idea Task Card Activity Instructions

I cut pieces of chart paper in half and glued one of the my main idea task cards to the middle. On the left was a section for students to generate the main idea statement and on the right was a section for students to write a title for the card. They went around the room in pairs reading the cards and adding main idea statements and titles. They covered their answer with an extra sticky note so that every student would be encouraged to do their own thinking.

When we were done, each pair of students got one chart and looked at all the main idea statements and titles. They chose which statement and title was the best fit for the task card and justified their choice.

It was a great way for me to walk around and see which students were still struggling with generating main ideas and which students still needed some help!

That’s it! Short and sweet today.  If you are interested in the main idea task cards, you can find them here.

More Main Idea Activities

For more main idea practice, check out these posts on main idea vs. theme, main idea vs. theme with song lyrics, and nonfiction main idea.