Main Idea and Details

What is main idea?

• what the author says about you

• what the text is mainly about

• who the text is talking about

• where the story takes place

You should use all of the following to find main idea EXCEPT:

• pictures in the text

• text headings and titles

• teacher answer sheets

• clue words that are repeated

What is the one question you should ask when looking for a text's main idea?

• Who is telling this story?

• Where will I be when reading the text?

• Can I relate to the text's overall message?

• What is the text talking about?

True or False? A text will always only have one main idea.

What educational tool or thing can we use when we are working on finding the main idea of a passage?

• Pencil

• Calculator

• Computer

• Graphic organizer

___________ details are used to back up the main idea.

We can use _________ information to support our concluded main idea.

• irrelevant

• exciting

• important

• new

Irrelevant details are ________.

• useful

• effective

• useless

• important

Will the author always plainly state what the main idea is in the story or text?

• Absolutely!

• No way! Sometimes we have to do some reading between the lines.

• Yes, it will always be in the first or last sentence.

Clue words used repeatedly are ______.

• meaningless

• important

• irrelevant

• unnecessary