Main Ideas & Note-Taking
Identify main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise them; retrieve and record information from non-fiction texts using notes, tables or other methods
Suggested ages 7–10
Learning journey
Your child is developing deeper reading skills — identifying main ideas across multiple paragraphs, making inferences about characters and themes, and understanding how authors use language and text features to create meaning and effect.
Evidence of understanding
- Read a multi-paragraph non-fiction text and state the main idea of each paragraph in one sentence
- Summarise a text of 3+ paragraphs in 2-3 sentences capturing the key points
- Retrieve specific information from a non-fiction text and record it using a simple table or notes (e.g., 'Name: hedgehog, Habitat: woodland, Diet: insects')
Assessment prompt
When Main Ideas & Note-Taking reads a long non-fiction article or chapter, can they pull out the most important points and write them as a short summary — rather than just copying chunks of text?
Standards alignment
Summarise main ideas
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2
Retrieve and present information
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2
Identify main ideas and summarise
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2
Retrieve and record information
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2