Activity Introduction
Quick summary: In this lesson, students will build on their ability to find the main idea of a text. They will identify the focus of separate paragraphs then link this information to identify an overall theme.
This lesson is designed to provide valuable practice for NAPLAN, the national literacy and numeracy test held in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9*.
This activity has been developed in partnership with Visy. For over 70 years Visy has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Australia’s recyclables and helping to reduce local landfills. Visy collects, receives and sorts paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium from households, businesses and schools with the purpose of reusing these products in the re-manufacture of new packaging products.
Learning intentions:
- Students will be able to identify the main idea in a non-fiction text.
21st century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 3 English:
- Identify the point of view in a text and suggest alternative points of view (ACELY1675).
- Understand that paragraphs are a key organisational feature of written texts (ACELA1479).
- Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596).
- Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680).
Syllabus outcomes: EN2-4A, EN2-9B, EN2-11D
General capabilities: Literacy, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8.
Relevant parts of Year 3 achievement standards: They identify literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different parts of a text. They select information, ideas and events in texts that relate to their own lives and to other texts. They listen to others’ views and respond appropriately using interaction skills.
Topic: Recycling, Sustainability.
Unit of work: Visy Education – Literacy Skills.
Time required: 60 mins.
Level of teacher scaffolding: High – model literacy strategies for students.
Resources required:
- Device capable of presenting a video to the class
- Say No To Waste text (printed A3 or projected for class to view)
- Finding the Main Idea learning tool
- Why is Recycling Important? Factsheet.
Keywords: Recycling, literacy, reading, comprehension, finding the main idea.
*This lesson plan is not an officially endorsed publication of NAPLAN’s creators and administrators – the ACARA body – but is designed to provide practice for the compulsory assessment.
The information and statistics included in this document are approximate and have been simplified for educational/illustrative purposes. They should not be relied upon for any other purpose.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
Teacher Preparation
