Main Idea

What is a main idea?

• What the story is mostly about

• A moral or the lesson in a story

• The main characters in the story

• The climax

What would be a supporting detail for this main idea: Courtney is the laziest student in class.

• She can never remember people's names

• She hardly ever gets her work done on time

• She shows up for class on time every day

• She is a great student

What is a topic sentence?

• The first sentence of each paragraph

• What the paragraph is all about

• Compare and contrast the characters

• Supports the main idea

What is the main idea of the passage?