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Main/Central Idea (10 Questions)

Authored by Kriscynthia McPhail

English

9th - 10th Grade

CCSS covered

Used 33+ times

Main/Central Idea (10 Questions)
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This quiz focuses on identifying and analyzing the main or central idea in written texts, a fundamental reading comprehension skill appropriate for grades 9-10. The questions systematically build students' understanding of strategic reading approaches, teaching them to ask purposeful questions like "What is this text about?" and "What does the author want me to know about the topic?" Students learn to recognize that supporting details connect directly to the central idea and that authors typically place main ideas at the beginning of paragraphs, though they can also appear in the middle or end. The quiz emphasizes pattern recognition skills, requiring students to identify repeated words, phrases, and related ideas as clues to determine central meaning. Through analysis of multi-paragraph passages about life choices and goal-setting, students practice applying these strategies to authentic texts that require them to distinguish between supporting details and overarching themes. Created by Kriscynthia McPhail, an English teacher in the US who teaches grades 9-10. This quiz serves as an excellent instructional tool for building foundational reading comprehension skills that students will use across all academic subjects. Teachers can implement this as a warm-up activity to activate prior knowledge before reading complex texts, use it for guided practice during reading strategy instruction, or assign it as homework to reinforce lessons on text analysis. The quiz works particularly well as a formative assessment to gauge student understanding before moving to more challenging inference and analysis tasks. The systematic progression from basic questioning strategies to application with authentic texts makes this resource valuable for differentiated instruction, allowing teachers to support students at various skill levels. This quiz aligns with Common Core standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2, which requires students to determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

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10 questions

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1.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

When reading, what is the first question you need to ask yourself?

What is the text about?

What am I doing?

What does the author want me to know about the topic?

What is the title of the text?

Tags

CCSS.RF.5.3A

CCSS.RI.6.10

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RF.5.4A

CCSS.RF.5.4C

2.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

When reading, what is the second question you need to ask yourself?

What does the author want me to know about the topic?

What is this writing about?

What is the title of the text?

How long do I have to read?

Tags

CCSS.RF.5.3A

CCSS.RI.6.10

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RF.5.4B

CCSS.RI.7.10

3.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

This is what you look for when trying to determine the central/main idea.

Clues, hints, and evidence.

Patterns, repeated words, phrases, or related ideas.

The bibliography

The table of contents

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

4.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

These connect directly back to the central/main idea.

Sentences

Paragraphs

Supporting Details

Summaries

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.7.1

5.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

In a text (paragraph), this is the second most common place to find the main idea. The sentences before this sentence support the main idea.

Near the start of a text.

Near the middle of a text.

Near the ned of a text.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

6.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

In a text (paragraph), this is the least common place to find a main idea. The author will spend a few sentences introducing the topic, present the main idea, then spend the rest of the paragraph supporting it.

Near the middle of a text

Near the end of a text

Near the beginning of a text.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

7.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

2 mins • 1 pt

What is the central idea of this paragraph?


Habit 2, Begin with the End in Mind, means developing a clear picture of where you want to go with your life. It means deciding what your values are and setting goals. Habit 1 says you are the driver of your life, not the passenger. Habit 2 says, since you’re the driver, decide where you want to go and draw up a map to get there.

You are the driver of your life, not the passenger.

Since you are the driver, decide where you want to go and draw up a map to get there.

Decide on your values and set goals.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

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