Today during reading we had some laughs as I read aloud a non-fiction article titled "Vomiting Isn't Just Gross." Not only did we learn a lot about why we vomit, but we also used this high interest article to further discuss main idea and details. We talked about how the main idea is just that; an idea- a complete idea. The main idea of the article can't just be "vomiting." That is not a complete idea. After talking with kids at their tables, students decided that "Vomiting is healthy" or "Vomiting protects us" would be better main ideas.
We then talked about how the details have to support that main idea.
Then, students were broken up into small groups and they read a different article that was at their reading level. Some articles were about Michael Jackson, MP3 players, meat eating plants, tornadoes, and break dancing. Students had to complete a box (main idea) and bullet (supporting details) for the articles. Students also practiced identifying and labeling the text features they could find in their article.