Main Idea, Supporting Details, and Summary

A statement that tells what a passage is mostly about -

• Topic

• Main idea

• Claim

• Transitional sentence

What are the facts and/or examples in the paragraph called?

• Facts

• Main Idea

• Supporting Details

• Summary

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 the main idea?

• Mount Rushmore is a carving in a stone cliff.

• Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota

• George Washington is one of the faces on Mount Rushmore.

• Mount Rushmore attracts visitors.

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?

• How the four presidents were chosen.

• Mount Rushmore is rarely visited because it is in South Dakota.

• Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln are the presidents carved into Mount Rushmore.

• No one is interested in Mount Rushmore anymore.

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.

The best title for this paragraph would be?

• The Face of Washington

• Mount Rushmore Carvings

• Visiting South Dakota

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?

• Sometimes people feel sad.

• You should do good things for others.

• We're not always happy.

• There are many ways to make yourself feel better.

That roller coaster is dangerous.

The best supporting details for the above topic sentence is ...

• 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.

• 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.

Which best describes a summary?

• a really long detailed piece of writing

• the entire text told in your own words

• a thing that teachers make you write

• the main ideas and important details of a text

What are supporting details in a nonfiction passage?

• Conversations between characters

• Unnecessary information

• Facts or examples that support the main idea

• Facts or examples that support the theme

We should improve our school by planting a garden. A garden is an inviting sight to see when you come to a building. A garden would teach students responsibility because they would have to regularly care for it. With a garden, we could support the school by selling the plants and vegetables that we grow.

What would be a good conclusion sentence?

• That's why a garden would be a great idea for our school.

• A garden would be a way to make our school beautiful.

• A school garden would benefit everyone in our school community.

• We should improve our school by planting a garden.