Main Ideas in The Third Wish

Learning how to identify the main idea in a selection of text is an important skill for students to master. If readers are not careful, they can miss important information, plot advancements, or more. In this activity, students will identify main ideas and symbols from the story, and support their choices with details from the text.

Give your students selections from the text to illustrate. Using the spider map layout, students will recreate the text with a picture and one or two sentences that capture the main idea of the selection.

Three main ideas from The Third Wish are:

1. Mr. Peters frees the swan from the thorny tangle. This is the task he completes to “earn” his three wishes.
2. Mr. Peters realizes that it is hopeless to expect that Leita will ever become truly happy as a human. He decides to wish her back to being a swan.
3. The mournful sound of two swans is Leita and her sister. They are singing because Mr. Peters has died.

Due Date:

Objective:Create a spider map that illustrates and describes three important events in The Third Wish.

Student Instructions:

1. Click “Start Assignment” and give your storyboard a name.
2. Write "Main Ideas" in the center title box.
3. Write the three important main ideas from the story in each title box.
4. Below each title, give examples.
5. Illustrate each main idea using appropriate scenes, characters, items, and text.
6. Save and exit when you are done.