Introduction
Sometimes author’s provide details in a text that are irrelevant or unrelated to the main idea or topic point of that text. Good, strong authors typically do not do this; but, as readers, we will occasionally see this in different variations of weaker texts and will have to omit (or purposefully overlook) these details of which do not belong.
Task
In this WebQuest, you will be asked to identify which detail is a “not” detail and therefore does not belong in a given passage.
Process
(1) Birthdays are important events at my house. (2) Halloween is fun, too. (3) Everyone in the family joins in wishing the birthday person the best. (4) There’s a huge dinner with special food. (5) The birthday person gets to use the red birthday plate. (6) Of course, there’s also a cake and candles and singing, followed by presents—one for each year. (7) But the best part is the feeling of being a family and knowing that you are surrounded by love.
Evaluation
Hopefully you chose Sentence #2 as being a “not” detail in this passage, because it is unrelated to the rest of the passage which talks about birthdays as opposed to Halloween.
Conclusion
Now that you know what “not” details are, you can be on the lookout for them when reading and analyzing other texts in the future!
Credits
CLICK the link to learn more about details and how they are used to support the main idea of a text like the legs of a stool! Think about how “not” details would not be enough support for the stool analogy.
Teacher Page
The ability to omit unrelated details in a text aligns with Common Core State Standards ELA.RI.1 and ELA.RI.2 for 4th and 5th grade.