Main Idea & Details Name Date

Meet a Meat Museum

Read the museum review.
Then follow the directions in the Text Marking box.

If you like quirky museums, the SPAM ® Museum (or

Museum of Meat-Themed Awesomeness, as it calls itself)

is your kind of place! It’s in Austin, Minnesota, the home

of Hormel Foods, which manufactures this popular

canned meat product. Not surprisingly, Austin calls

itself SPAMtown.

Made of pig parts and secret spices, colored and

The ® symbol means that the name
preserved by sodium nitrate, bound by potato starch, SPAM is a registered trademark.
and covered in a gelatinous glaze, SPAM® is the

monarch of mystery meat. Today, cans of it roll out of

Hormel plants at the rate of 44,000 each hour. That’s a Text Marking
lot of pre-cooked chopped mystery meat! Find the main idea
The museum is awesome. The first thing to greet and supporting details.

you as you enter its lobby is a soaring wall Circle the main idea
of SPAM ® cans. The second is one of the welcoming in each paragraph.

SPAMbassadors, who will become your guide. After ________ Underline two supporting
offering slices of SPAM®, he or she will lead you down details for each main
idea.
SPAMburger Alley to see the enormous SPAM® patty

hanging from the ceiling. There, too, is a replica SPAM®

plant conveyor belt moving hundreds of cans in a perpetual loop.

The museum boasts several other oddly fascinating exhibits. One explains SPAM ®’s key role in

feeding World War II troops. Another features Slammin’ SPAMmy, Hormel’s wartime mascot,

a glaring cartoon pig. There are also interactive exhibits; one lets visitors try their hand at a mock

SPAM® canning assembly line.

And the SPAM ® teriyaki at the museum’s restaurant is delicious!

Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5
© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources
1
 Do More Name Date

Meet a Meat Museum

,, Answer each question. Give evidence from the review.

1 Which of the following features of the SPAM® Museum make it quirky (paragraph 1)?

tt¶ A. It has its own restaurant. tt¶ C. Visitors are led by friendly guides.
tt¶ B. It has interactive exhibits. tt¶ D. A huge meat patty hangs from the ceiling.
What in the text helped you answer? _____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

2 Who was Slammin’ SPAMmy?

tt¶ A. a brave World War II soldier tt¶ C. a tour guide in the SPAM® Museum
tt¶ B. a cartoon symbol for SPAM® tt¶ D. a baseball player from Austin, Minnesota
What in the text helped you answer? _____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

3 The author of this review has included both facts and opinions. Revisit the text and list three
statements of opinion.

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

4 This piece is an example of a review of a visit to an actual place. What do you think was the
author’s reason for writing this review?

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________
Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5
© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources
2
Teaching Routine for Close Reading and Purposeful
Text Marking
Any text can become more accessible to readers who have learned to bring various
strategies, such as purposeful text marking, to the reading process. Here is one suggested
routine that may be effective in your classroom.
Preview

44 Engage prior knowledge of the topic of the piece and its genre. Help students link it
to similar topics or examples of the genre they may have read.
44 for which students will be marking the text. Distribute the
Identify the reading skill
Comprehension Skill Summary Card that applies to this passage. Go over its key ideas.

Model (for the first passage, to familiarize students with the process)

44 Display the passage, using an interactive whiteboard, document camera, or other

resource, and provide students with their own copy. Preview the text with students by
having them read the title and look at any photographs, illustrations, or other graphics.
44 Draw attention to the markings students will use to enhance their understanding of
the piece. Link the text marking box to the Comprehension Skill Summary Card
for clarification.
44 Read aloud the passage as students follow along. Guide students to think about the
skill and to note any questions they may have on sticky-notes.
44 Mark the text together. Begin by numbering the paragraphs. Then discuss the choices
you make when marking the text, demonstrating and explaining how the various text
elements support the skill. Check that students understand how to mark the text using
the various icons and graphics shown in the text marking box.
Read

44 Have students do a quick-read of the passage independently for the gist. Then they
should read it a second time, marking the text as they go.
44 Encourage students to make additional markings of their own. These might include
noting unfamiliar vocabulary, an idiom or phrase they may not understand, or an
especially interesting, unusual, or important detail they want to remember. Invite them
to use sticky-notes, colored pencils, highlighters, question marks, or check marks.
Respond

44 Have students read the passage a third time. This reading should prepare them to
discuss the piece and offer their views about it.
44 Have students answer the questions on the companion Do More page. Encourage
them to look back at their text markings and other text evidence. This will help
students provide complete and supported responses.

Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5

© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources
3
Comprehension Skill Summary Cards

To help students review the reading-comprehension skill this lesson addresses and the
specific terms associated within, have them use the reproducible Comprehension Skill
Summary Card. The boldface terms on the card are the same ones students will identify
as they mark the text.
You might duplicate and distribute the Comprehension Skill Summary Card before
assigning the passage that focuses on that skill. Discuss the elements of the skill together
to ensure that students fully grasp it.

Tips and Suggestions

44 The text-marking process is versatile and adaptable. Although numbering,

boxing, circling, and underlining are the most common methods, you can
personalize the strategy for your class if it helps augment the process. You
might have students use letters to mark text; they can, for example, write MI
to indicate a main idea, D to mark a detail, or F for fact and O for opinion.
Whichever technique you use, focus on the need for consistency of marking.
44 You may wish to extend the text-marking strategy by having students identify
other aspects of writing, such as figurative language or confusing words,
expressions, or idioms. Moreover, you can invite students to write their own
notes and questions in the margins.

Comprehension Skill

Main Idea & Details

Every passage has one or more main

ideas supported by details. The main idea
answers the question, “Who (or What) is
this piece about?”

44 The main idea is the most important

point an author makes about a topic.
The main idea in most paragraphs
is stated in a topic sentence. The topic
sentence can appear anywhere in
a paragraph.

44 Supporting details are facts,

statements, examples, descriptions,
and other information that tell more
about the main idea.

Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5

© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources
4
Answer Key

Meet a Meat Museum (1010 L) ....................... Museum Review

. Sample Text Markings

2 Main Idea & Details Name Date

Meet a Meat Museum

Passage 2: Meet a Meat Museum
Read the museum review.
Then follow the directions in the Text Marking box.
1. D; Sample answer: The other choices describe
If you like quirky museums, the SPAM ® Museum (or
features typical of most museums.
Museum of Meat-Themed Awesomeness, as it calls itself)

is your kind of place! It’s in Austin, Minnesota, the home

2. B; Sample answer: In paragraph 4, the author
of Hormel Foods, which manufactures this popular

canned meat product. Not surprisingly, Austin calls

describes Slammin’ SPAMmy as “Hormel’s wartime
itself SPAMtown. mascot, a glaring cartoon pig.”
Made of pig parts and secret spices, colored and
The ® symbol means that the name
preserved by sodium nitrate, bound by potato starch, SPAM is a registered trademark. 3. Sample answer: Here are three opinions I found:
and covered in a gelatinous glaze, SPAM is the
In paragraph 2, the author calls SPAM® the “monarch
®

monarch of mystery meat. Today, cans of it roll out of

Hormel plants at the rate of 44,000 each hour. That’s a Text Marking of mystery meat.” In paragraph 3, the author calls the
lot of pre-cooked chopped mystery meat! Find the main idea museum “awesome.” In the last line, the author says
The museum is awesome. The first thing to greet and supporting details.
that SPAM® teriyaki is delicious.
you as you enter its lobby is a soaring wall Circle the main idea
in each paragraph.
of SPAM ® cans. The second is one of the welcoming
4. Sample answer: I think the author wanted to give
SPAMbassadors, who will become your guide. After ________ Underline two supporting
offering slices of SPAM , he or she will lead you down
® details for each main information about an interesting and unusual place
SPAMburger Alley to see the enormous SPAM® patty
idea.
people might not know about. The review makes
hanging from the ceiling. There, too, is a replica SPAM ®
the place sound fun to visit, goofy, educational,
plant conveyor belt moving hundreds of cans in a perpetual loop.
and entertaining.
The museum boasts several other oddly fascinating exhibits. One explains SPAM ®’s key role in

feeding World War II troops. Another features Slammin’ SPAMmy, Hormel’s wartime mascot,

a glaring cartoon pig. There are also interactive exhibits; one lets visitors try their hand at a mock

SPAM® canning assembly line.

And the SPAM ® teriyaki at the museum’s restaurant is delicious!

Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5
© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources

Informational Passages for Text Marking & Close Reading: Grade 5

© 2015 by Scholastic Teaching Resources
5