When students don't understand the difference between a summary, main idea and/or theme statement, I group them and use children's books to teach the difference. This 5-page cooperative learning activity helps students really understand what makes a summary different from main idea and theme. Simply pull short, interesting children's books of your choosing and pair them with my lesson! Why this works: By analyzing these differences in one text, students understand the purpose of each skill and can visually see how a summary is larger than a main idea statement, and how a theme does not contain text-specific information. With this purchase, you will get a .PDF of: • a complete set of teacher instructions • a model lesson using the story “Little Red Riding Hood” • a blank triangle graphic organizer to print or display as a reference for students • a student instruction page to apply to teacher-choice books • a ready-to-use rubric STAAR and Common Core aligned! Tip: Copy the student instruction page and rubric front to back.