Nonfiction Reading Skills

What is a main idea?

• the central point of a piece of writing
• the information that supports the topic sentence
• the most interesting detail in a book
• the punctuation used in a paragraph

What are supporting details?

• Useless

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

• Details about the text that tell you about the setting

• Details from the text that develop the main idea

It was backward day at school.  The students had to do things backward.  Some of them wore their T-shirts backward.  They took a test before they studied the lesson.  Dessert was served first instead of last.  They tried to walk home backward, but they bumped into each other and fell down. 
What is the main idea?

• Dessert is supposed to come last.
• The students had a backward day.
• It is hard to do things backward.
• Students failed their tests.

Floods can cause tremendous damage.  They can ruin houses, roads and buildings. Floods can take down trees and cause mudslides. It 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. 

Choose a supporting detail. "I am affraid of the dark."

• I imagine all sorts of scary things.

• My sister likes being in the dark.

• I sleep with my parents.

• When the sun goes down, it gets dark.

Choose a supporting detail. "Building a snowman is so much fun".

• There were several snowmen on our block.

• I love the snow days because that means school is out!

• I love making the large balls of snow for the body.

• I wear mittens when there is snow outside.

Which detail does not belong? "My best friend and I are so much alike".

• We do not have anything in common.

• We both love romantic comedies.

• We always laugh at the same corny jokes.

• She loves chcolate ice cream as much as I do

What is the term for the words that appear below a picture? 

• glossary
• caption
• description
• photo

What graphic feature is shown in this example?

• photograph
• table
• map
• diagram

This is an example of a ___________?

• Index
• Table of contents
• Graph
• Caption