Activities

1. Create an outline for what should be in the concluding section of an informative/explanatory text.
   
   
2. Collect a variety of concluding sections from informative/explanatory text and make a poster from them.  Identify the parts of a concluding section on the poster.

3. Given an informative text, identify the main idea.
   
   
4. Given a well-written informative concluding section, label each sentence and identify its purpose.
   
   
5. Given the main idea of the informative text, rewrite the main idea for the concluding section using new words.

6. Given an informative/explanatory text, without a concluding section, provide final thoughts for the reader.
   
   
7. Given an informative/explanatory text, without a concluding section, provide a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student creates an outline for what should be in the concluding section of an informative/explanatory text.  Student includes:

• Restated main idea in different words.
• Reminder of examples given.
• Final thoughts for the reader.  Thoughts explain why the reader should care about the topic or gives the reader something to think about.

2. Student collects a variety of concluding sections from informative/explanatory text and makes a poster from them.  Student identifies the parts of a concluding section on the poster.  Student has a variety of concluding sections.  Student correctly identifies the parts of a concluding section on the poster.  Student includes the parts of a concluding section on the poster:

• Restated main idea in different words.
• Reminder of examples given.
• Final thoughts for the reader.  Explain why the reader should care about the topic or give the reader something to think about.

3. Given an informative text, identify the main idea.  Student closely reads text.  Student looks for main idea in the introduction.  Student verifies they have found the main idea by asking what the text is mainly about and looking for this idea in every paragraph.  If the main idea is identified correctly, the student should see details throughout the text that support the idea in every or almost every paragraph.  Student correctly identifies the main idea.  Student understands that to write an effective conclusion, they must remind the reader of the main idea in the concluding section.

4. Given a well-written informative concluding section, student labels each sentence and identifies its purpose. 

• Student correctly labels the restated claim.  Student explains the restated claim is meant to remind the reader about the purpose of the paper. 
• Student correctly labels the restated examples or topic sentences from each paragraph.  Student explains that the restatement of the examples or topic sentences remind the reader of the examples given in the informative essay. 
• Student correctly labels the final thoughts for the reader.  Student explains that the function of the information is to give the reader something to think over.

5. Given the main idea of the informative text, student rewrites the main idea for the concluding section using new words.  Student correctly rewrites the main idea using different words, but retaining the original meaning.  Student uses one or a combination of the following strategies to reword the main idea.

• Student highlights key words in the main idea and replaces those words with synonyms, ensuring that the new words used do not change the intended meaning. 
• Student changes the voice of the main idea.  If the main idea is written in active voice, he rewrites it in passive voice.  For example, Preventable diseases affect people of all ages and backgrounds. (active voice-the subject is performing the action).  People of all ages and backgrounds are affected by preventable diseases. (passive voice-the subject of the sentence is receiving the action).
• Student rearranges words in the main idea, while maintaining the original meaning. 
• Student rearranges words in the main idea and replaces some key words with synonyms to change the main idea wording, while retaining the original meaning. 

6. Given an informative/explanatory text, without a concluding section, student provides final thoughts for the reader.   Student understands a concluding section needs to also include a restated main idea in different words and a reminder of examples given.  Student gives appropriate final thoughts for the reader.  Student gives the reader something to think about in the conclusion by one of the following:

• asking a rhetorical question to make the reader think
• Synthesizing the main idea and restating what was learned in a new way
• giving the reader a reason to care about the topic.  Student can play the “so what” game to give the reader a reason to care about the topic.  The student reads the restated main idea and examples and asks, “so what?”  “Why should anyone care about this?”  This will assist the student in coming up with a reason the reader should care about the topic.    

     Student does not add new information to the conclusion.  

7. Given an informative/explanatory text, without a concluding section, student provides a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.  Student correctly restates the main idea and body paragraph examples in new words, while giving the reader something to think about.  Student gives the reader something to think about in the conclusion by asking a question, restating what was learned in a new way, or giving the reader a reason to care about the topic.  Student does not add new information to the conclusion.   Conclusion makes sense and sums up the text.  Student uses one or more or a combination of the following strategies to rewrite the main idea:

• Student identifies the main idea of the informative/explanatory text from the introduction. 
• Student highlights key words in the main idea and replaces those words with synonyms, ensuring that the new words used do not change the intended meaning. 
• Student changes the voice of the main idea.  If the main idea is written in active voice, he rewrites it in passive voice.  For example, Preventable diseases affect people of all ages and backgrounds. (active voice-the subject is performing the action).  People of all ages and backgrounds are affected by preventable diseases. (passive voice-the subject of the sentence is receiving the action).
• Student rearranges words in the main idea, while maintaining the original meaning. 
• Student rearranges words in the main idea and replaces some key words with synonyms to change the main idea wording, while retaining the original meaning.

     Student correctly restates the body paragraph examples or supporting details in the conclusion using one or
     more or a combination of the following strategies to summarize the body paragraphs:

• Student closely reads all body paragraphs to determine the topic sentences.
• Student identifies and combines the body paragraph topic sentences using a conjunction, to form a compound sentence.
• Student rewords the body paragraph topic sentences using synonyms, while retaining the same meaning.
• Student rewrites the two body paragraph topic sentences in an active or passive voice so that the sentences retain the same meaning.
• Student rearranges words in the topic sentences, while maintaining the original meaning.