There are moments when the parents of a teenager say, or at least think, "Why don't you act your ages?" But what age is young adolescent to act. One minute he is twelve years old; they very next he seems sixteen; and a moment later he crawls back into childish comfort. The betwixt-and-between junior-high-school pupil offers parents and teachers exciting challenge, for adults cannot guide seventh, eighth and ninth graders without growing themselves. Neither "fish nor fowl," the junior-high school pupil is caught between tender childishness and manly promise. During these years of change and unashamed enthusiasm, the young adolescent explores a million quandaries, test a hundreds selves and questions tumbling values as he rapidly constructs others. What is the main idea of the passage?

The junior high years are a very confusing time full of growth and trials.

The junior high years are a period of self-confidence and understanding.

The junior high years are short and will end quickly.

The junior high years are a very exciting time full of adventure.

Read the following paragraph and tell where the main idea is located. Despite the hatred most people feel toward cockroaches, they do help humans in several ways. For example, they are perfect experiment animals and are used for scientific research in the laboratory. Breeding them is easy, for they thrive under almost any conditions. In studies on nutrition and food, cockroaches are good subjects because they will eat any kind of food. They can be used to study heart disease, and cancer researchers work with roaches because they grow cancerous tumors like those that are found in humans.

Not state in the paragraph directly (implied)

Sharks can lose up to 30,000 teeth in their lifetime. Sharks have teeth arranged in rows inside their mouths. These teeth do not have roots like human teeth do, so they fall out easily. When a shark takes a powerful bite into its food, several teeth are lost. When these teeth are lost, new ones push forward from the back rows to replace them. Luckily, sharks continually grow new teeth to replace the thousands they lose.

Sharks lose many teeth over their lifetime.

Sharks' teeth are arrange in rows.

Sharks are carnivorous predators.

In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first people to successfully fly an airplane. As children, the brothers enjoyed building and tinkering with things. Later, they owned printing and bicycle making business. The skills and money made from these businesses helped them create several aircrafts during the 1890s. Finally, in 1903, the Wright brothers successfully flew the first controlled airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. What is the main idea?

The Wright brothers were the first to fly.

What the first airplane looked like

What the weather was like at Kitty Hawk

The Wright brother owned printing and bicycle making businesses.

Matilda Excerpt By Roald Dahl By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting. "Daddy," she said, "do you think you could buy me a book?" "A book,” he said. "Whatd' you want a flaming book for?" "To read, Daddy." "What's wrong with the telly, for heaven's sake? We've got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You're getting spoiled, my girl!" What is the main idea?

Matilda is eager to learn and read more.

Matilda is interested in cookbooks.

Matilda's dad won't buy her a new book.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Excerpt By Roald Dahl Charlie Bucket stared around the gigantic room in which he now found himself. The place was like a witch’s kitchen! All about him black metal pots were boiling and bubbling on huge stoves, and kettles were hissing and pans were sizzling,and strange iron machines were clanking and spluttering, and there were pipes running all over the ceiling and walls, and the whole place was filled with smoke and steam and delicious rich smells. Mr. Wonka himself had suddenly become even more excited than usual, and anyone could see that this was the room he loved best of all. He was hopping about among the saucepans and the machines like a child among his Christmas presents, not knowing which thing to look at first. He lifted the lid from a huge pot and took a sniff; then he rushed over and dipped a finger into a barrel of sticky yellow stuff and had a taste; then he skipped across to one of the machine sand turned half a dozen knobs this way and that; then he peered anxiously through the glass door of a gigantic oven,rubbing his hands and cackling with delight at what he saw inside. Then he ran over to another machine, a small shiny affair that kept going phut-phut-phut-phut-phut, and every time it went phut, a large green marble dropped out of it into a basket on the floor. Which of the following best supports the idea of Mr. Wonka’s excitement?

"like a child among his Christmas presents"

"rubbing his hands and cackling with delight"

"he peered anxiously through the glass door"

Pretty Little Liars Excerpt By Sara Shepard Imagine it's a couple of years ago, the summer between seventh and eighth grade. You're tan from lying out next to your rock-lined pool, you've got on your new Juicy sweats (remember when everybody wore those?), and your mind's on your crush, the boy who goes to that other prep school whose name we won't mention and who folds jeans at Abercrombie in the mall. You're eating your Cocoa Krispies just how you like 'em --- doused in skim milk --- and you see this girl's face on the side of the milk carton. Missing. She's cute --- probably cuter than you --- and has a feisty look in her eyes. You think, Hmm, maybe she likes soggy Cocoa Krispies too. And you bet she'd think Abercrombie boy was a hottie as well. You wonder how someone so . . . well, so much like you went missing. You thought only girls who entered beauty pageants ended up on the sides of milk cartons. Well,think again. What is the importance of all the details about the narrator’s day by the pool?

to show she is ordinary like the reader

to emphasize what she likes to do

to remind the reader they were once in middle school

to scare the reader about missing people

Sea of Monsters: Percy & the Olympians Excerpt By Rick Riordan My nightmare started like this.I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing.Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned. Florida, I thought. Though I wasn’t sure how I knew that. I’d never been to Florida. Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life. Yeah, I said hooves.Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don’t recommend), you’d never know there was anything unhuman about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he’s got furry hindquarters and hooves. Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He’d gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn’t seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from. What is the main idea of the dream?

The main character is in danger.

Florida is in the middle of a hurricane.

Main Idea

Authored by Helen WestLakeMS

English

7th - 8th Grade

CCSS covered

Used 51+ times

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15 questions

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MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

The best definition of the main idea would be...

Important information that tells more about the overall idea of a piece of writing.

What a piece of writing is mostly about.

What someone is primarily talking about.

A vague idea that is supported by very specific details.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

The best definition of supporting details would be...

Important information that tells more about the overall idea of a piece of writing.

Sentences that make the main idea stronger and clearer.

The sentences that make up the bulk of a paragraph in a piece of writing.

Details that support other details.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

Robots are being used in sumo wrestling contest. Sumo wrestling is a sport that started in Japan. It takes place in a rind. Two players try to score points by holding each other down or pushing each other out of the ring. Robot sumo uses robots instead of humans. The robot that scores the most points wins.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

Sumo wrestling is a sport that started in Japan.

Sumo wrestling takes place in a ring.

The robot scores the most points wins.

Robots are being used in sumo wrestling contests.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

Robots are being used in sumo wrestling contest. Sumo wrestling is a sport that started in Japan. It takes place in a rind. Two players try to score points by holding each other down or pushing each other out of the ring. Robot sumo uses robots instead of humans. The robot that scores the most points wins.

Which of the following is a supporting detail of this paragraph?

Robots are being used in sumo wrestling contests.

Robot sumo contests are better than human sumo contests.

Robot sumo uses robots instead of humans.

Watching robot sumo is boring

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

Students compete in robot sumo contests. They learn how to build there own robots. They compete against their classmates and students from other schools. To win, students must be creative. They must have a good plan for defeating other robots.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

Students need a good plan for defeating other robots.

Students compete against their classmates and students from other schools.

Students compete in robot sumo contest.

Students must be creative to win.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

Students compete in robot sumo contests. They learn how to build there own robots. They compete against their classmates and students from other schools. To win, students must be creative. They must have a good plan for defeating other robots.

Which of the following is a supporting detail of this paragraph?

Students like building sumo robots.

Students compete in robot sumo contests.

They use excellent strategies to defeat other robots.

They must have a good plan for defeating other robots.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

15 mins • 1 pt

Pizza is a favorite food in the United States. Pizza is from Italy in the late 1800s. It became popular in the United States after World War II. People like to add toppings. Some toppings are pepperoni, sausage, and vegetables. There toppings give pizza more flavor. Pepperoni is America's favorite topping.

What is the main idea of the passage?

Pizza is made from flour.

Pizza was first made in Italy.

You should eat the delicious pizza.

Pizza is a popular meal in the United States.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

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Main Idea

The best definition of the main idea would be...

The best definition of supporting details would be...

Students compete in robot sumo contests. They learn how to build there own robots. They compete against their classmates and students from other schools. To win, students must be creative. They must have a good plan for defeating other robots. What is the main idea of this paragraph?

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Discover more resources for English

Students compete in robot sumo contests. They learn how to build there own robots. They compete against their classmates and students from other schools. To win, students must be creative. They must have a good plan for defeating other robots.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?