Lesson: Main Idea and Supporting Details

Main Idea and Supporting Details

By: Miss Molly

​Learning Target

I can pick out the main idea and supporting details in a nonfiction text.

Supporting details are things in the text that prove or explain the main idea.

​Supporting Details

Main idea is the focus or center topic in a text.

​Main Idea

What is Main Idea and Supporting Details??

​Different things to look at!

When you first receive a text you can look at many things to find out what the text might be about. Those things could include looking at the pictures, highlighted or bolded words, headings, read the first and last sentence, and the title of the text. A text might not have all of those things!

Multiple Choice

What does the MAIN IDEA of a story tell the reader?

• The lesson or moral 

• The conflict of the story

• What the story is about 

• The beginning, middle, or end

Multiple Choice

Main idea is supported by...

• Concluding Sentence

• Details

• Chair

Pigs

Did you know pigs are
very smart animals?
They have an excellent
sense of smell. This
super sense helps
them to use their snout
to find food on the
ground. They also use
their snout to explore
the world around them.

• Look at the pictures

• Highlighted or bolded words

• Headings

• Title of the text

• Read the first and last sentence

​What is the main idea??

Pigs

Did you know pigs are
very smart animals?
They have an excellent
sense of smell. This
super sense helps
them to use their snout
to find food on the
ground. They also use
their snout to explore
the world around them.

​What is the main idea??

​Answer: Pig's sense of smell

​We just met out learning target: I can pick out the main idea and supporting details in a nonfiction text!

Multiple Choice

Read the following details and determine the main idea of these words.
-pineapple
-apple
-grapes
-strawberry
-oranges

• Fruits

• Desserts

• Vegetables

Chickens

Did you know there are more chickens on earth than people? That’s a lot of chickens!

Most chickens are
domesticated, that means they can be tamed or kept as pets! Many chickens live on farms, in a small barn or
chicken coop.

Chickens are famous for their eggs. A mother hen can lay more than 300 eggs per year!

• Look at the pictures

• highlighted or bolded words

• headings

• title of the text

• Read the first and last sentence

​​What is the main idea??

Chickens

Did you know there are more chickens on earth than people? That’s a lot of chickens!

Most chickens are
domesticated, that means they can be tamed or kept as pets! Many chickens live on farms, in a small barn or chicken coop.

Chickens are famous for their eggs. A mother hen can lay more than 300 eggs per year!

​​What is the main idea??

Answer: Facts About Chickens