Virginia SOL 6.RI.1.A
The Standard
Summarize texts, including their main idea(s) and how they are developed with specific details.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Key Ideas and Confirming Details
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify the central idea or ideas in an informational text. They select specific supporting details and combine them into a concise summary written in their own words.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students state the central idea in their own words and choose details that show how it develops. Their summary is accurate, brief, objective, and free of minor examples.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may retell every event or copy whole sentences instead of selecting key points. They may name the topic as the central idea or include opinions not supported by the text.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short article and ask them to write one central idea, list two supporting details, and produce a three-sentence summary.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a printed article to cut apart, then sort sentences into central idea, supporting detail, and unnecessary information.
Ask students to explain which two details best support the author’s central point and defend their choices with evidence.
Play Summary Showdown by having pairs reduce a paragraph to 20 words, then check for accuracy, objectivity, and key details.
Compare a full news article with its short news brief, then identify what information the editor kept, combined, or removed.
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Printable 6.RI.1.A Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 6.RL.1.A
Summarize texts, including determining the central theme of stories, plays, or poems, and how they are conveyed through specific details.
- 2.RI.1.B
Retell key details of texts that demonstrate an understanding of the main topics of texts.
- 4.RI.1.A
Summarize the main idea of multi-paragraph texts and the specific paragraphs within them, explaining how key details support the main ideas.
- 5.RI.1.A
Summarize the main ideas of texts and specific paragraphs within them, including how they are developed through the details.
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