← Back to course
Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 02 / Wednesday
3/6
Week 02 · Theme and Central Idea

Wednesday

Writing Lab: central ideas
// What a text is really about
⏱ about 20 min

Wednesday: Writing Lab, Central Ideas

Rocket reads Raven's feature about the library branch out loud. He stops halfway.

"Wait. Is this about the reading corner, or about the notes kids leave in books?"

"Both," Raven says. "A feature can have two central ideas. What do you notice about the order?"

Rocket looks again. "The first half builds the corner. The second half fills it with notes."

Nova hovers over the two halves of the page. "Which details belong to which idea?" she asks.

Rocket takes two colors of pencil and starts underlining. Blue for the building. Green for the notes.

"Two ideas," he says. "Each one developed, detail by detail. I can summarize that."

Learn it: central idea and how it develops

Nonfiction has a central idea: the main point the writer makes. A longer piece can have two.

The writer develops a central idea by adding details that support it, section by section.

Raven thinks aloud: "The first paragraphs say who built the shelves and who gave the rug. Those details develop the idea that many people built the corner."

An objective summary of nonfiction names each central idea and the main details that develop it. It leaves out your opinion.

  • Read the whole piece once without stopping.
  • Ask: what is the main point of the first half? Of the second half?
  • Underline the details that develop each idea.
  • Summarize: idea one and its details, idea two and its details, in order.

Read it

Read it
The Reading Corner (a feature from this week's Signal)
The reading corner at the library branch on Maple Street did not exist a year ago.
It began with two empty shelves that the branch no longer needed and a corner nobody used.
A neighbor sanded the shelves on his porch and carried them back. Another brought a round rug from her attic.
The branch librarian, Ms. Adeyemi, gave the corner its first thirty books from the donation bin.
Three students painted a sign for the wall that reads Sit Here Awhile.
By last fall, the corner had a lamp, two floor cushions and a low table. Every piece came from a different household.
Then the notes started.
A reader finished a book, wrote a short note on an index card, and tucked it inside the back cover.
The note said: "The ending surprised me. Tell me if it surprised you too."
The next reader answered on the same card. Soon, cards appeared in dozens of books.
Some notes recommend the next book. Some ask a question. One just says, "You are going to like chapter four."
Ms. Adeyemi leaves the cards where they are. "The corner belongs to the readers now," she said. "I only keep the lamp working."
On a Tuesday afternoon this month, five readers sat in the corner at once. Two of them were reading the cards instead of the books.
The corner is open whenever the branch is. New index cards wait in a cup on the low table.
CHECK IT: THE READING CORNER
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What is the central idea of the first half?
What is the central idea of the second half?
Which detail develops the FIRST central idea?
Which line marks the turn from the first idea to the second?
WHICH SUMMARY IS OBJECTIVE?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Pick the objective summary of the first half.
Pick the objective summary of the second half.
StatementTrue or false?
The feature says the corner existed two years ago.?
The first thirty books came from the donation bin.?
Ms. Adeyemi removes the cards each week.?
New index cards wait in a cup on the low table.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe corner did not exist a year ago. The librarian leaves the cards where they are.
How many books did the librarian give the corner at first? Type the number.
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe number is a detail that develops the first central idea: many gifts built the corner.
Try it
Read the feature aloud. Tap once at every detail about building the corner and twice at every detail about the notes.
Notice where the taps change from once to twice. That is where the second central idea begins.

Write it: Writing Lab

Checklist
My summary names both central ideas as full sentences.
Each central idea is followed by two or three details from the feature that develop it.
My summary follows the order of the feature.
I used no opinion words: best, should, sweet, boring, I think.
Every sentence begins with a capital and ends with a period.

Two central ideas, developed and summarized. Tomorrow you follow one theme from the first line of a story to the last.

← Tuesday