Teaching Gateway Biographies
Muhammad Ali:
The Greatest
Reading Level: Grade 5
Reading Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2: Determine
two or more main ideas of a text and
explain how they are supported by key
details; summarize the text.
Subject: Social Studies
Materials
•a book for each student
•paper
•pencil
•Main Idea, Supporting Details, and
Summary handout (p. 3 of this guide)
Targeted Reading Strategy
Identify main idea, supporting details, and summarize a text.
Academic vocabulary: abolitionist, amateur,
comeback, conscientious, heavyweight, legacy,
regimen
Before Reading
Build Background Knowledge
•Introduce the book, Muhammad Ali: The Greatest, by showing students the cover. Ask them if they know who is on
the cover and what he is known for.
•If available, show students a brief video of one of Muhammad Ali’s boxing matches. After you have discussed what
the students know, ask additional questions to activate their prior knowledge, such as
–– Have you ever seen or watched a boxing match? What can you tell me about boxing?
–– Why do you think the author wrote a book about Muhammad Ali?
–– What information do you think you will learn in the book?
•After building background knowledge, ask students what genre or text type the book is. Review the table of contents
on page 5, and encourage students to offer predictions about the chapter headings.
•During the book walk, point out any new vocabulary words and model ways to decode the words. Review
informational text features and why they are important for good readers to use. Remind students of different reading
strategies such as context clues to use as they encounter unfamiliar words.
Skill Introduction
•Explain to students that one strategy good readers use to help them understand and learn new information is to
write a summary, or overview of what is most important in the text. The summary includes the main idea and a few
important supporting details.
Think-aloud: The title of a book helps me understand what the book will be about. In nonfiction books, chapters
are used to organize information to make it easy for the reader to understand. The information in each chapter
will include a main idea and supporting details for each section. If I look at the table of contents, I can see what
each chapter will be about. I see the title of the first chapter is called “Born Cassius Clay.” I wonder if that’s his
real name or why he is known as Muhammad Ali. Can you share your thoughts about the title of this chapter?
(wait for student responses.)
•After discussing students thoughts and predictions, have students read to the middle of page 9 and stop.
™
Copyright © 2017 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner Digital™ and Lerner eSource™
are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.lernerbooks.com
ISBN 978-1-5124-4431-5
1
Teaching Gateway Biographies
Muhammad Ali:
The Greatest
During Reading
Check for Understanding
•After reading page 9, have students model how to identify the main idea and supporting details and give a brief
summary of this page.
Think-aloud: As I read the introduction, I learned that these paragraphs gave the reader a good idea about Ali’s
character. The main idea was that he was a twenty-five-year-old heavyweight champion in boxing and a Muslim
minister. Supporting details include his military induction hearing, refusal of the induction, and sentencing. A
summary might be this: At the age of twenty-five, Muhammad Ali was a heavyweight boxing champion opposed
to the Vietnam War for his moral beliefs. He refused the required induction into the military and was sentenced
to five years in prison with a $10,000 fine and the loss of his passport and boxing titles.
•Have students continue reading the next section titled “Born Cassius Clay”. Ask students to be thinking of the main
idea as they read. They can use the handout to mark supporting details or use sticky notes.
•Depending on time allotted for guided reading instruction, the book can be broken down into chapters and used
over a few days or a week, if needed.
•Guide students as they continue reading the remainder of this section.
•Also, remind students to use their sticky notes to mark any words they have trouble with as they read.
After Reading
Response to Text
•Ask students if they had trouble with any words while reading.
•Review reading and decoding strategies when necessary.
•Ask students to share new information or interesting facts they learned about Muhammad Ali.
Think-aloud: Since we have been discussing main ideas and supporting details, I see there are important
features in a nonfiction book that help me understand how to find supporting details. For example, bolded
headings help me pick out main ideas, key details, or both. Can someone share another way to identify a
supporting detail when I am reading a nonfiction book? (Accept all reasonable answers.) Guide students if they
need additional examples or help.
Word Work
•Practice writing number words.
•Write different numbers on the board, such as (103; 102; 39; 5,679,081; 18,409)
Extension Activity
•Have students complete the Main Idea, Supporting Details, and Summary handout for a chapter in the book.
•Make multiple copies of the handout to use over several days to repeat the skill for each chapter.
™
Copyright © 2017 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner Digital™ and Lerner eSource™
are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.lernerbooks.com
ISBN 978-1-5124-4431-5
2
Teaching Gateway Biographies
Muhammad Ali:
The Greatest
Name:
Main Idea, Supporting Details, and Summary
Write the main idea and supporting details for a section of the book. Then use the
main idea and details to write a summary.
Main Ideas
Supporting Details
Summary
™
Copyright © 2017 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner Digital™ and Lerner eSource™
are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.lernerbooks.com
ISBN 978-1-5124-4431-5
3