Main Idea and Summary

Main Idea

What is it?

Main Idea

If the author is repeating some other words, then obviously they are important.

Words like: the, and, an, because, are, is, if, etc. are not key words

Used

Word

Times

Who

What

Where

Why

When

*You won’t always be able to identify all of the 5 W’s in a passage

Multiple Choice

What are the 5 W's?

• Who, what, when, where, why

• Who, what, when, where, why, how

• Whom, when, where, what, how, will

• Whose, which, how, when, where

Reorder

Reorder the following steps for finding the main idea

• Read the passage

• Reread the passage and highlight repeated words

• Write the repeated words

• Use the repeated words to find the 5 W's

• Use the 5 W's to write your main idea sentence

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

One thing we've been struggling with is writing the main idea sentence, so we're going to practice.

When writing a main idea sentence, you will have to add extra words to make the sentence make sense.

Extra words could be: it, and, the, because

Example

Example

Drag and Drop

Look at the image for the 5 W's, drag and drop the answers below to form the correct sentence.



​

Placeholder

have to ​

Placeholder

their ​

Placeholder

​

Placeholder

all the time ​

Placeholder

it helps with take off and landing.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

Seagulls

keep

feathers

perfect

because

Labelling

Drag and drop the answers into the correct spots on the picture.

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

Camels

live in cold areas

fitted to live in cold climates

Drag and Drop

Look at the image for the passage and 5 W's. Use it to fill out the main idea sentence below.



Long ago ​

Placeholder

used an X ​

Placeholder

of a signature ​

Placeholder

sign their names ​

Placeholder

​

Placeholder

X became a sign of love.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

people

instead

to

and

eventually

Open Ended

Use the image to create your own main idea sentence. Write your answer below.