ELA: Main Idea and Supporting Details

What is a Main Idea?

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

• b. What a piece of writing is mostly about.

• c. What someone is primarily talking about.

• d. A vague idea that is supported by very specific details.

What are Supporting Details?

• a. Information that describes your opinion of a reading passage.

• b. Sentences that make the main idea stronger and clearer.

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

• d. Details that support other details.

What are 3 linking words that can be used to connect supporting details to the main idea?

• a. dictionary, definition, vocabulary

• b. listen here, don't go there, duh

• c. bro, dude, sistah

• d. first, similarly, in particular

Choose the most logical main idea based on the book cover.

• a. A puppy goes on vacation to Niagara Falls

• b. A cat named Marcy joins the marching band

• c. A kitten named Misty is abandoned

Choose the most logical main idea based on the book cover.

• a. A boy loses his baseball hat

• b. A girl named Mindy is excited

• c. A girl named Judy Moody is angry

Choose the best Supporting Detail for the Main Idea.

Main Idea: The beach is the best place for a vacation.

• a. The warm sun shines on the water.

• b. Volleyball is my favorite sport.

• c. Seagulls try to steal my food.

• d. Jellyfish can sting you.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RI.6.2

Choose the best Main Idea for the Supporting Details.

Supporting Details: It starts to get dark earlier.

The leaves begin to change color.

Birds leave to move South for the Winter.

• a. There are many fun things to do on a Fall day.

• b. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

• c. There are signs that tell us Fall is on the way.

• d. Raking leaves is an unnecessary task.

Readers need to know main idea and supporting details of a text they are about to read because...

• a. It helps them keep their writing focused.

• b. It lets them skip reading the text.

• c. It helps them predict what the book is about

• d. It helps them fool their classmates.

Writers need to know main idea and supporting details of a text they are about to write because...

• a. It helps them structure their writing outline.

• b. It helps them decide if they want to read the book.

• c. It helps them decide if they want to watch the video.

• d. It is completely unnecessary for writers.

Students compete in robot sumo contests. They learn how to build their 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?

• a. Students need a good plan for defeating other robots.

• b. Students compete against their classmates and students from other schools.

• c. Students compete in robot sumo contests.

• d. Students must be creative to win.