Understanding Key Details in Informational Texts
Understanding Key Details in Informational Texts Objective: Students will identify key details in a simple informational text to better understand the main topic.
Learning Objectives
- Students will listen to an informational text and identify the main topic.
- Students will recognize and name key details that support the main topic.
- Students will express understanding through drawing and simple sentences.
Materials Needed
- A short informational picture book or passage suitable for Kindergarten (e.g., about animals, weather, or plants)
- Paper
- Crayons or markers
- Pencil
Key Vocabulary
- Informational Text
- A type of writing that gives facts about a topic.
- Key Details
- Important pieces of information that tell us more about the topic.
- Topic
- What the story or text is mostly about.
Detailed Activities
Reading and Identifying Key Details
- Read the chosen informational text aloud to the student, showing pictures and pointing to words.
- Ask the student to tell you what the text is mostly about to identify the topic.
- Discuss 2-3 important details from the text that help explain the topic, prompting with questions like ‘What did you learn about?’
- Have the student draw a picture showing the main topic and one or two key details.
- Encourage the student to dictate or write a simple sentence about the drawing with your support.
Parent & Instructor Notes
- This lesson focuses on helping your child understand how to find important information in a text, a key reading skill.
- Use lots of praise and encouragement as your child shares ideas and drawings.
- Keep reading sessions short and interactive to hold your child’s attention.
Assessment Questions
- What is this story mostly about?
- Can you tell me one important fact you learned?
- Can you show me a picture of what the story is about?
Extension Ideas
- Create a simple ‘key details’ chart with pictures and words from other books or topics your child enjoys.
- Visit a library or website to find other informational books on similar topics to reinforce the skill.
- Play a game where your child tells you what a picture or object is about and shares two important details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Try breaking down the text into smaller parts and ask simple questions about each part. Use pictures to help connect ideas.
Short daily or several times a week sessions are best. Consistent practice helps build understanding over time.
Teacher’s Guide
Common Misconceptions:
- Students may confuse key details with minor details; emphasize what helps explain the main topic.
- Children might focus only on pictures and not connect them to the text, so encourage linking both.
Scaffolding Ideas:
For Struggling Students:
- Use shorter texts with clear, simple pictures.
- Focus on just one key detail at a time.
- Allow drawing or acting out details instead of writing.
For Advanced Students:
- Ask students to find more than three key details.
- Encourage them to explain how the pictures help understand the text.
- Have them compare two texts on similar topics.
Pacing Recommendations:
- Spend about 15 minutes reading and discussing the text.
- Allow 20 minutes for drawing and sentence creation.
- Use the remaining time to review and ask assessment questions.
Standards
- K.RI.7 — With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
Printable Worksheet
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