Determining+Importance

Check out these trade books for teaching students how to determine importance...

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Or just get started with these sample lessons.
Our Stars- Dart Board Lesson

-Read and re-read the story __Our Stars__ by Anne Rockwell (or any non-fiction text). After students are familiar with a story, they will tell a fact that they learned from the story and write it on an arrow. They will place the fact on the dart board. The center is for the MOST important facts. The yellow ring is for important facts, and the blue ring is for interesting or fun facts.

-Students may try to put many of the facts in the center or yellow ring, and that is OK. As those sections of the dart board become full, you can have important discussions about what facts are really most important and which might be able to be moved to a different ring.

-Close by reviewing the facts that were MOST important. Remind students that we can’t possibly remember everything we read, so when they read, they have to make decisions about what is most important about what the author is trying to tell them.
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Determining Importance Mini-Lesson #1 __Monarch Butterfly__- by Gail Gibbons

-Introduce the story by having students look at the cover and take a picture walk. Ask the students: Why do you think we will read this book today? Do you think the book will be non-fiction or fiction? Why? -Tell students that we are going to read the book to learn more about butterflies. Explain that while we read, we can’t possibly remember every single thing the author tells us, so we have to try to figure out what the most important details are. Tell them to listen as you read and think about what the most important details might be.

-Read the story and discuss the details that the author shares about butterflies.

-Make a “Top Ten List.” Go back through the story, re-reading parts as necessary, to help the students identify the top ten details from the story. For example:


 * 1) Butterflies lay eggs.
 * 2) A caterpillar hatches out of the egg.
 * 3) The caterpillar eats a lot.
 * 4) The caterpillar forms a chrysalis.
 * 5) A monarch butterfly forms inside the chrysalis.
 * 6) The butterfly comes out of the chrysalis.
 * 7) A butterfly has to let its wings dry before it can fly.
 * 8) Butterflies don’t taste good to predators, so don’t get eaten.
 * 9) Monarch butterflies have to fly south when it gets cold.
 * 10) In the spring, the butterflies fly north again.

-Remind students that they heard so many details about butterflies in the story __Monarch Butterflies__. Remind them that good readers have to decide what details are the most important.