Determining Importance Activities that Create Strong Readers
Do you know your life is FULL of determining importance activities? ALL DAY! Anyone else out there a morning person, too? The second that I wake up, I instantly think of the 1,846 things that I need to do that day. After that… I look at the time. Usually there is only about 34 minutes until the kids get up so that means I need to prioritize. I think through my to do list and put my determining importance skills into practice. This helps me choose what I NEED to get done that morning.
As teachers, we are all experts at determining the most important things that we need to do during our precious planning time! Today, that is planning your determining importance activities to help your students learn this essential reading strategy (and life skill!)
Purpose of Determining Importance Activities
- as students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, they need the ability to pick out the most important points to help them understand what they are reading
- helps students take away the full understanding of what they read
- supports students in diving deep into the text to analyze the information given
Tips for Teaching Determining Importance
- In all texts, there is important information that supports the main idea. There is also interesting details that make it enjoyable to read! I have found that sorting details into interesting and important is an extremely effective way for 2nd graders to practice determining importance. Below are some examples of what I use from my determining importance resource pack!
2. I find that using a mentor text during shared reading is the most effective way to teach students how to use this skill. You can model thinking aloud and determining the important information yourself. This interactive read aloud allows the students to observe how you use the skill. They can then practice implementing it themselves in a structured supported way.
3. Make sure to carefully choose a mentor text for determining importance activities! This blog post has my favorites!
4. I use an anchor chart during shared reading to guide determining importance activities and help the students track what we are discussing. An important part of teaching this skill is that as you continue to read, you may realize that some details you deemed interesting or important may need to be recategorized. This is why I like to track this on post it notes. We can refer back to the facts and move them as needed. I find it helpful to teach the skill clarifying before determining importance.
Think- “If this detail was removed, would the text still make sense?”
5. Concrete real life examples help students to truly understand the concept of determining importance. I love do to a concrete connection as a quick 5 minute warm up activity every day before shared reading. Prompt them to explain how they decide what in their house is most important to bring to school, what to pack for a trip, what is important or fun to bring with you while you are driving?
I have everything you need to get started with this lesson structure in my determining importance activities pack! There are tons of activities for students to practice independently after your lessons.
Read more about how I teach other non-fiction reading strategies:
