1
Discovering
Central
Ideas
Concept
Teaching
Point
Preparation
Suggested
Materials
Essential
Question(s)/
Lesson
Framing
Quotes
Lesson 4
Moodle Activity / Resource
Overview / Purpose, Tips & Alternatives
Interacting with Texts
Readers connect important lines and identify central
idea(s) as they read.
 Prepare copies of Organizing Collecting Text
Bookmarks or prepare a similar system of organizing
important lines. You might want to use the
Organizing Collecting Text Bookmarks handout
provided.
 Optional: Prepare small copies of the lessonframing quote(s) for students to tape into their
readers/writers notebooks.

What are the important lines in your book, and
how do they suggest and connect to central
ideas in the text?
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”
- Stephen King
Activity / Resource Type: Page (teacher-only)
Title: “Lesson 4 Activity Notes”
Activity / Resource Type: Popup page
Title: “How Do Key Lines Suggest Topics or Themes?”
Overview / Purpose: Students start thinking about the
key question as they read quotes.
“In a good book the best is between the lines.” Swedish Proverb
Teaching
Point
Readers connect important lines and identify
central idea(s) as they read.
& Active
Engagement
Teacher Model and Think-Aloud: Cut up your
Collecting Text Bookmarks (gathered during Lesson
2) so that each one is separate. Think aloud as you
re-read your bookmarks and organize them into
categories. Model how you would make decisions
about which lines seem to be about the same topic
or idea and label each category you have created.
You might use the handout Organizing Collecting
Text Bookmarks or some other organizational
system that works well.
Activity / Resource Type: Page
Title: “Organize Your Bookmarks into Categories”
&
Independent
Practice
Active Engagement: Students work in pairs to sort a few
bookmarks. They discuss their decision making with their
partners, explaining their choices as they go.
Independent Practice: Students work individually to
finish sorting their bookmarks and labeling their
categories.
Overview / Purpose:
Teacher Model and Think-Aloud: Students hear and see
your process of rereading bookmarks and deciding which
lines belong in which categories.
Active Engagement: Students begin practicing the
process of categorizing bookmarks.
Independent Practice: Students continue to sort
bookmarks and label categories with central ideas,
themes or topics.
Tips & Alternatives: During partner-work, circulate to
clear up confusion and share models with the class.
During independent practice, circulate to assist and also
talk to students about their reading goals and identities.
Copyright © 2010-2014 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and Oakland Schools
2
Discovering
Central
Ideas
Share
Lesson 4
Moodle Activity / Resource
Overview / Purpose, Tips & Alternatives
Students submit their categorized bookmarks.
Activity / Resource Type: Assignment
Choose a few students to serve as thinking models. Have
them read a few of their bookmarks and their labels to
the class.
Title: “Share Your Categorized Bookmarks”
Tips & Alternatives: This 10-point Moodle Assignment
allows for typing or copy-pasting of categorized
bookmarks, or uploading / file attachment.
An alternative would be to have students complete the
work in their Reader’s / Writer’s Notebook and supply
the URL or a printout to you.
Independent
Practice
& Extension
Independent Practice: Students read independently for
the rest of the class period. They continue to track
progress on their Reading Log and fill out their Collecting
Text Bookmarks.
Extension: Students read at home for 30 minutes and
complete the Collecting Text Bookmarks.
Students should have repeated opportunities to read
and discuss their novels over a span of several days.
Activity / Resource Type: Page
Title: “Read Your Novel, Conference With Your Teacher”
Overview / Purpose: Devote substantial class time, and
out-of-class time, to students’ reading to emphasize its
importance in building fluency, volume, vocabulary, and
comprehension, plus a love of reading
Tips & Alternatives:
Throughout this unit, as students read, the teacher
circulates around the room and confers with students
about their reading lives, using the “Questions for
Conferring” handout as a guide. The first time they
confer, teacher and student should discuss student
reading goals and identities, and work to help support
them in attaining those goals in the unit. By the second
week, teachers should meet with students again in order
to see if they have met those goals. Conferences are not
intended to be graded observations. They are brief
opportunities for students to name and provide
feedback to the teacher about what they are thinking
and using and what strategies, habits, or processes they
are using to read the text. They are also intended to
provide a moment for the teacher to guide the student.
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Copyright © 2010-2014 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and Oakland Schools
3
Discovering
Central
Ideas
Mid-Unit
Formative
Assessment
Task
Lesson 4
How does a fiction text instigate a reader to wonder
about ideas? After reviewing your Organizing Collecting
Text Bookmarks Handout, identify an idea that you came
to during or after reading your independent novel. In 1 –
2 paragraphs, explain how the work prompted your
thinking, using specific examples from the text. In
addition, provide 1 to 2 examples from current or
historical events that illustrate the idea you are now
interested in reading more about. Explain how
knowledge about this personally important idea will
impact your own life.
Moodle Activity / Resource
Overview / Purpose, Tips & Alternatives
Activity / Resource Type: Assignment
Title: “Mid-Unit Formative Assessment Task: How Does
Fiction Generate Ideas for You?”
Purpose / Overview: Students explain how an idea from
their novel led to research and new understanding of
that idea.
Tips & Alternatives: This 50-point Moodle Assignment
allows for typing, copy-pasting, or file uploading. An
alternative would be to have students address the task
in their Reader’s / Writer’s Notebook and provide a
printout or URL to you.
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Copyright © 2010-2014 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and Oakland Schools