Tom started to reel in his line. The fish tugged and pulled hard. Judging by the weight of his catch, this fish could feed his family for three days. Tom struggled to stay in the boat and not be pulled over the side. Finally his catch came into view. He had snagged a snapping turtle! What is the main idea?

Tom catches a snapping turtle while fishing.

Tom finds enough food for his family.

Tom gets pulled out of his boat by a huge fish.

If you are feeling sad, you can make yourself feel better by doing a few simple things. You can take a walk (or get another form of exercise), you can talk to a friend, or you can write down your feelings. Writing down the good things in your life will help too. Doing something good for someone else will also help you feel better. If you still feel a little sad, act happy. It works like magic to make you feel better! What is the main idea?

There are many ways to make yourself feel better.

You should do good things for others.

Jake's family went on a camping trip. They went to a park by the ocean. They rode their bikes around the park and cooked their food over a fire outside. They saw some deer. They came home Sunday afternoon. What is the main idea?

Jake's family went on a camping trip

Porpoises live in the earth's oceans and sometimes in bays and rivers near oceans. Porpoises are mammals. Their babies get their food from their mother's body. These animals live in the water, but they must come up for air. Porpoises are very interesting animals. What is the main idea?

Porpoises are very interesting animals

Hummingbirds love pink or red flowers. They guard their favorite flowers and try to keep other birds away. They fight one another for food. Their wings make a whirring sound when they hover over flowers to sip nectar. The tiny birds fly long distances to go to a warmer climate for the winter. They make their tiny nests in shrubs or trees. What is the main idea?

Hummingbirds are interesting birds

They hover over flowers to sip nectar.

They fly long distances to travel to warmer climates in the winter

They guard their favorite flowers

Eva wanted to surprise her sister Cindy for her birthday. She decided to plan a picnic for her sister. She made two sandwiches and put them in a bag. Then she put some cookies and bottles of water in the bag. When she told Cindy about the surprise, Cindy her sister a big hug. Then the girls walked to the park. What is the main idea?

Eva planned a picnic to surprise her sister

Eva told Cindy about the surprise

Eva put some cookies and water in a bag

Maria is watching too much television. A toddler shouldn't be spending hours staring blankly at a screen. Worse yet, some of her wild behavior has been inspired by those awful cartoons she watches. We need to spend more time reading books with her and pull the plug on the TV. What is the main idea?

Watching a lot of television isn't good for Maria

Some cartoons are bad for Maria

Someday we will all have robots that will be our personal assistants. They will look and behave much like humans. We will be able to talk to these mechanical helpers. Amazingly, the robots of the future will be able to learn from experience. They will be smart, strong, and untiring workers whose only goal will be to make our lives easier. What is the main idea?

Someday we will all have robots to be our personal assistants

We will be able to talk to these mechanical helpers

They will look and behave much like real humans

Robots of the future will be able to learn from experience

Niagra Falls is one of the most beautiful sights in North America. It is on the Niagra River halfway between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Niagra Falls is located on the American and Canadian border. The American Falls is 167 feet high. On the Canadian side, the Horseshoe Falls is 161 feet high. Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail for the main idea?

Niagra Falls is one of the most beautiful sights in North America

The American Falls is 167 feet high

The Horseshoe Falls is 161 feet high

It is located between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie

The Statue of Liberty is visited by thousands of people every year. The Statue of Liberty is a 151 foot tall statue of a woman holding a book and a torch. It was a gift of friendship from the people of France. It has become the universal symbol for freedom. Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail?

The Statue of Liberty is an amazing statue

The Statue of Liberty is 151 feet tall

Thousands of people visit the Statues of Liberty each year

It was a gift of friendship from France

The peregrine falcon is a beautiful wild bird. It is also one of the fastest. In 1978, the peregrine falcon was placed on the endangered species list. The main reason the peregrine falcon was dying out was the use of pesticides. Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail of the main idea?

The peregrine falcon is an amazing bird

The peregrine falcon is one of the fastest wild birds

It was placed on the endangered species list

It was dying out because of pesticides

Danger often appears in the most unexpected places. People usually think of the bathtub as a safe, quiet place. But more accidents occur there than anywhere else in the home. Slips or falls that occur while entering and leaving the tub injure thousands of people every year. Most people think of a baker as having a safe and pleasant job; however, rolling, kneading, and pounding dough causes clouds of flour dust, which can enter the lungs and disable the baker. Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail?

Some activities are more dangerous than they look

thousands of people are hurt in tub accidents every year

People think bakers have a safe job

Bakers can be disable by flour in their lungs

Emily went hiking last week. She climbed large rocks and ate on the edge of a cliff. She used all of her climbing gear to get to the top of a mountain. She saw many awesome sights of the landscape below and felt like she could touch the sky above. What is the main idea?

She ate lunch on the edge of a cliff

She felt like she could touch the sky

What is the main idea of the following paragraph? When we think of seaweed, we usually picture brown or green plants a foot or so in length. Seaweeds are also of other colors. Some are red. Some kinds grow to lengths of a hundred feet! These form giant seaweed forests, where many kinds of fish take shelter.

Why some seaweed grows so large

What is the main idea of the following paragraph? 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 the course of their lifetime

Shark teeth are very different from human teeth

Sharks are carnivorous predators

What is the main idea of the following paragraph? Animals and plants living in deserts have adaptations which enable them to survive there. Desert plants have little or no leaves where moisture can escape. They also have deep roots to soak up water underground. Many desert animals are nocturnal. They burrow in the soil or sand during the hottest part of the day and are active at night when it is cooler. Desert animals also survive by getting the water they need from desert plants.

Plants/animals in the desert have unique ways of surviving the heat and lack of rainfall

It rains very little in the desert

Many different types of animals live in the desert

Which sentence is a supporting detail for the main idea that recycling is important?

Recycling paper saves trees from being cut down

There are many landfills available for waste

You should clean all items before recycling them

Separate your paper, cans, and glass jars before recycling them

What are supporting details?

Details from the text that develop the main idea

Details from the text that tell you how the character is feeling

Details about the text that tell you about the setting

Weather reporters have to give out a lot of information. That's why they use pictures. The pictures help them tell us about the weather without using so many words. Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is. They need to know where the warm air is. They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area. Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short. The pictures help weather reporters get the information out in a fast way. Which sentence best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

Pictures help weather reporters get information out in a fast way

Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is

Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short

They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area

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.

Some people say that the White House has ghosts. The most famous ghost is Abraham Lincoln. He is often seen standing in his room looking out the window. Even Eleanor Roosevelt said that she saw him. There is a legend that old Abe walks back and forth all night before something terrible is about to happen. This paragraph mainly tells:

when Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost walked

hwo many ghosts the White House has

how ghosts show when something will happen

Which sentence is a supporting detail for the main idea that recycling is important?

Recycling paper saves trees from being cut down.

There are many landfills available for waste.

Clean jars before recycling them.

Separate your paper, cans, and glass jars before recycling.

What are supporting details (also known as concrete details)?

Quotes, facts, examples all located within the text to help support the main idea.

The author's discussion about the main idea in more depth.

The author's opinion about the main idea.

The reader's opinion about the main idea.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year. Brach's, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end. That's a lot of candy corn, but that's nothing compared to the production of Tootsie Rolls. Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day! But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry's staple product: chocolate. Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year. Now that's a mouthful!

How much of popular candies are sold each year.

The overpowering candy industry

Candy corn, the world's most abundant candy piece.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA A penny for your thoughts? If it’s a 1943 copper penny, it could be worth as much as fifty thousand dollars. In 1943, most pennies were made out of steel since copper was needed for World War II, so the 1943 copper penny is ultra-rare. Another rarity is the 1955 double die penny. These pennies were mistakenly double stamped, so they have overlapping dates and letters. If it’s uncirculated, it’d easily fetch $25,000 at an auction. Now that’s a pretty penny.

The material of the penny is all that is important.

Make sure to collect your pennies for further auctions.

Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer. Soccer players learn how to dribble and pass the ball. They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score. Most importantly, soccer players learn how to work together with their teammates. What is the main idea?

Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer.

They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score.

Soccer players learn how to dribble.

They learn how to work together as teammates.

Where is the main idea most often found?

In the first couple of sentences of the paragraphs.

Mount Rushmore is a huge carving in a stone cliff. The carving shows the faces of four U.S. presidents. They are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota. Each year many people visit this amazing sight. What is a detail that tells about the main idea?

which presidents are at Mount Rushmore

how the four presidents were chosen

why Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota

That roller coaster is dangerous. The best supporting details for the above topic sentence is ...

Last year, it broke down several times, leaving people stranded in their cars sixty feet off the ground. In most cars, the seat belts are torn and don’t always buckle properly. One area of the track shakes and makes a strange grinding sound whenever a car passes over it.

It is slower than any other roller coaster in the state. The curves of its track are so wide and the hills are so shallow that a ride on this roller coaster seems like a drive in the country. People don’t scream when they ride it. Instead, they enjoy the view from above the park.

It is known as one of the best roller coasters in the country. People will wait in lines for hours just to try it. At certain points it reaches the same speeds as cars do on highways. The track is so tall and long that you can see it miles away.

Margo is a very rude worker. The best supporting details for the above topic sentence are ...

She keeps customers waiting while she talks with a coworker. When someone asks her about a sale item, she snaps, “If it isn’t on the shelf, we don’t have it!” When her boss isn’t watching her, she answers the telephone by saying, “Yeah, what do you want?”

She can barely stay awake while at work. Almost every day, she arrives at the store a few minutes late, having slept till the last minute. She works in slow motion, and it takes her so long to do any one thing that people never ask for her help. If she didn’t spend the day pumping herself full of caffeine, she probably would not be able to move at all.

She can answer the phone, ring up a customer’s purchases, and count large amounts of money all at the same time. She often volunteers to help customers bring their bags to their cars. She does not mind taking time to answer a customer’s question or help someone stock a shelf.

Main Idea & Details

Authored by Denise Weintraut

English

5th - 8th Grade

CCSS covered

Used 50+ times

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50 questions

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MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

What is the best question to ask yourself when you are trying to find the main idea?

Who is the main character?

What is the main event?

What is one important detail?

What point is the author trying to make?

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 1 pt

What text features can give you a clue of what the main idea is?

Title

Headings

Pictures

All of these

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

Benjamin Franklin loved to write. When he was twenty-two, he set up his own printing shop and started a newspaper. He also printed a book called Poor Richard’s Almanac. It had funny stories, information about the weather, and wise sayings. What is the main idea?

Benjamin Franklin loved to write stories and books.

Benjamin Franklin worked very hard when he was young.

Benjamin Franklin knew a lot about the weather.

Benjamin Franklin was very poor.

Tags

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

There are several events that can change the Earth's surface very quickly. Volcanoes can erupt and spread lava, rock and ash for several miles. Earthquakes can leave large cracks in the Earth's surface. What is the main idea?

Several events can change the Earth's surface.

Earthquakes can cause large cracks.

Volcanoes can be dangerous.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

Scientists can measure the intensity of an earthquake. They use an instrument called the Richter scale. The Richter scale compares the strength of different earthquakes. Earthquakes below 2.0 usually can’t be felt. Earthquakes over 5.0 on the scale can cause damage. A magnitude 7.0 is a major earthquake and can cause tremendous damage. What is the main idea?

Scientists can measure the intensity of an earthquake.

Strong earthquakes can cause lots of damage.

Some earthquakes are very small.

Tags

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

Benjamin Franklin loved the city of Philadelphia. He started the city’s first hospital and fire department. Ben also started Philadelphia’s first public library. Benjamin Franklin worked very hard to make Philadelphia a better place to live. What is the main idea?

Benjamin Franklin worked hard to make his city a great

place to live.

Benjamin Franklin worked for the fire department.

Benjamin Franklin knew a lot about books.

Benjamin Franklin went to school in Philedelphia.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

Floods can cause tremendous damage. They can ruin houses, roads and buildings. Floods can take down trees and cause mudslides. A flood often leaves mud, sand and debris behind. It can take months to clean up after a flood. What is the main idea?

Floods can cause a lot of damage.

Floods cause mudslides.

Floods damage houses and roads.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

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Main Idea & Details

What is the best question to ask yourself when you are trying to find the main idea?

What text features can give you a clue of what the main idea is?

Benjamin Franklin loved to write. When he was twenty-two, he set up his own printing shop and started a newspaper. He also printed a book called Poor Richard’s Almanac. It had funny stories, information about the weather, and wise sayings. What is the main idea?

There are several events that can change the Earth's surface very quickly. Volcanoes can erupt and spread lava, rock and ash for several miles. Earthquakes can leave large cracks in the Earth's surface. What is the main idea?

Benjamin Franklin loved the city of Philadelphia. He started the city’s first hospital and fire department. Ben also started Philadelphia’s first public library. Benjamin Franklin worked very hard to make Philadelphia a better place to live. What is the main idea?

Floods can cause tremendous damage. They can ruin houses, roads and buildings. Floods can take down trees and cause mudslides. A flood often leaves mud, sand and debris behind. It can take months to clean up after a flood. What is the main idea?

What is the main idea? ShellsSusan likes to swim with her family at the beach. The best part of going to the beach is collecting shells. She likes to use shells to make jewelry. Collecting shells is fun.

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What is the main idea?
Shells
Susan likes to swim with her family at the beach. The best part of going to the beach is collecting shells. She likes to use shells to make jewelry. Collecting shells is fun.