Next Gen Learning
📖 READING (40 Lessons) • 🟡 C. Reading for Information
Read short animal articles, tell the main idea in simple words, and name at least two facts from each one.
Sometimes reading time is a story with characters, feelings, and a beginning, middle, and end.
Other times, reading time is an article. An article gives real facts and information about something.
In this lesson, the articles are about animals. Each article is like a tiny page of facts.
Most animal articles have:
Animal articles are different from stories:
For each animal article, you can ask:
Helpful frames:
Today, you will read short animal articles and practice telling the main idea and at least two facts from each one.
Picture strip: Tiny animal articles with titles, pictures, and facts
How to use this mini-book:
On paper, make three lines for each animal: “Animal: ___ • Main idea: ___ • Facts: ___, ___”. Fill them in after you read.
Frames: “This article is about ___.” “One fact is ___.” “Another fact is ___.”
Penguins
Penguins are birds that cannot fly. They have short wings that help them swim. Penguins live in cold places and stay warm together in a group.
What is this article mostly about? What facts did you learn?
Giraffes
Giraffes are tall animals with long necks. They use their necks to reach leaves high in trees. Each giraffe has its own pattern of spots.
Can you say one main idea and two facts?
Dolphins
Dolphins live in the ocean and breathe air. They are good swimmers and can jump out of the water. Dolphins use sounds to “talk” to each other.
What is this article teaching you about dolphins?
Ants
Ants are tiny insects that work together. They carry food that is bigger than their own bodies. Ants live in large homes called colonies.
What facts can you remember about ants?
Read each short animal article or idea. Drag the word that makes the best main idea or fact idea into the box. Chips stay in their own question. When you are done, press “Check sentences.”
Koalas spend most of their time in trees. They hold on with their strong claws and eat leaves. Koalas rest for many hours each day.
This article is mostly
koalas in trees.
Cheetahs are very strong runners. They can move quickly for a short time to chase animals for food.
The article’s main idea is that cheetahs are very
.
Penguins use their wings like flippers. They move their wings to push through the water and swim.
Penguins use their wings to swim is a
from this article.
Red pandas live in places with many trees and bamboo plants. They like to climb and spend time in the branches.
According to this article, red pandas live in a
.
Bats sleep upside down. They hang by their feet in dark, quiet places. When it is time to fly, they let go and open their wings.
Bats Sleep Upside Down would be a good
for this article.
Owls can see well at night. They turn their heads to look around.
After reading, it helps to tell two
you learned about owls.
The idea of an animal article tells what it is mostly about.
To find the main idea, one good clue is to look at the article .
If you forget a fact, you can read that part to help you remember.
A strong way to talk about an animal article is: This article is ____. One fact is ____. Another fact is ____.