Read the following passage and then choose the best summary or main idea. There are five teams of students in the fifth grade. The blue team has math first period, and the red team has science. The yellow team gets to go outside early in the morning, while the green team goes to music. Only students on the orange team get to play games first period. Each student wears a nametag with his or her color, so that the teachers and students all know where a student should be.

Students are organized by teams with color names .

The yellow team has the best schedule.

Read the following passage and then choose the best summary or main idea. The Elk River flows from the far northern part of the state all the way to the southern tip. All kinds of animals rely on it for drinking water, people eat the fish they catch in it, and farmers in the state depend on it for irrigating their crops. Since there is very little rain in this state, the Elk River gives animals and humans the water they need to stay alive. Even though the river is not nearly the biggest in the nation, it is very important to the people and animals that live near it.

The Elk River is very important to people and animals.

The Elk River is a small river.

The Elk River starts in the northern part of the state.

People catch fish in the Elk River.

Read the following passage and then choose the best summary or main idea. Books lay in the middle of his floor. Several broken toys were shoved halfway under the bed, and dirty clothes were everywhere. Frank's parents kept telling him to clean his room, but it never seemed to get clean. In fact, if Frank did manage to clean part of it, the rest of the room just got messier. In one corner of the room was an old peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an open bag of potato chips was thrown on the dresser.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich was in one corner of the room.

Frank got in big trouble because his room was not clean.

Read the following passage and then choose the best summary or main idea. Jose carefully poured out the bag of marbles on his bed. He picked his ten favorite marbles and carefully set them to the side. Then he got out a small bag from his top drawer, and put the ten marbles inside. Just to make sure he wouldn't forget them, he placed the bag of marbles in his backpack. Jose loved show and tell, and he was excited that he would get to show his class some of his favorite marbles.

Jose was getting his favorite marbles ready to take to school for show and tell.

Jose would rather play marbles than play baseball.

Jose placed the bag of marbles in his backpack.

Beautiful Butterflies Have you ever just watched a butterfly float around, its wings gracefully fluttering? The butterfly's beauty and amazing transformation seem to capture our imagination and make us wonder at this amazing little insect. A butterfly begins its life cycle as a caterpillar, a long, worm-like creature covered with tiny, spine-like hairs and a patter of stripes of patches. The caterpillar sheds its skin four or more times before creating a cocoon around itself. During this stage, we call the creature a chrysalis. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar's body tissues break down and new parts are formed. Finally, the transformation is complete, and a beautiful butterfly comes out! The adult butterfly finds a mate and lays eggs on leaves and stems. Often, the butterfly migrates, or travels to a new location, to lay its eggs. This little eggs will soon hatch, and new little caterpillars will begin the cycle again. What is the main idea of this passage?

how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly

Beautiful Butterflies Have you ever just watched a butterfly float around, its wings gracefully fluttering? The butterfly's beauty and amazing transformation seem to capture our imagination and make us wonder at this amazing little insect. A butterfly begins its life cycle as a caterpillar, a long, worm-like creature covered with tiny, spine-like hairs and a patter of stripes of patches. The caterpillar sheds its skin four or more times before creating a cocoon around itself. During this stage, we call the creature a chrysalis. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar's body tissues break down and new parts are formed. Finally, the transformation is complete, and a beautiful butterfly comes out! The adult butterfly finds a mate and lays eggs on leaves and stems. Often, the butterfly migrates, or travels to a new location, to lay its eggs. This little eggs will soon hatch, and new little caterpillars will begin the cycle again. What happens inside the cocoon?

The caterpillar's body tissues break down and new parts are formed.

The caterpillar sheds its skin four or more times.

Tom started to reel in his line. The fish tugged and pulled hard. Judging by the weight of his catch, this fish could feed his family for three days. Tom struggled to stay in the boat and not be pulled over the side. Finally his catch came into view. He had snagged a snapping turtle! What is the main idea?

Tom catches a snapping turtle while fishing.

Tom finds enough food for his family.

Tom gets pulled out of his boat by a huge fish.

Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer. Soccer players learn how to dribble and pass the ball. They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score. Most importantly, soccer players learn how to work together with their teammates. What is the main idea?

Soccer players learn many skills when playing soccer.

They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score.

Soccer players learn how to dribble.

They learn how to work together as teammates.

Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown are bakers. They work at a store called Bake Goods to Go. Mrs. Jones works nights. She bakes cakes, cookies, and pies. Mrs. Brown works in the daytime. She bakes bread and rolls. Both Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown are very good bakers. What is the main idea?

Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown are bakers

They work at a store called Bake Goods to Go.

Summarizing and Finding the Main Idea

Quiz

•

English

•

5th - 12th Grade

•

Practice Problem

•

Hard

•

CCSS

RL.11-12.2, RI. 9-10.2, RL.7.2

+15

Standards-aligned

Margaret Anderson

FREE Resource

20 questions

Show all answers

1.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

What is a summary?

a short explanation of a text

a persuasive argument about a text

a movie based off a book

a theme or universal lesson

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.5.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

2.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

When would you most likely summarize a book?

when you want to forget a book you've read

when you want to tell a friend your opinion of a book but not what it was about

when you want to tell a friend the gist or the main idea of a book

when you don't understand a vocabulary word you read in a book

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.5.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

3.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

A summary should

answer the 5 W's: who, what, when, where, and why.

describe the details but not the main ideas.

never mention the plot of the text.

always mention the age of the author.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.5.9

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

4.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

You should write your summary

in your own words with complete sentences

in a secret language that your make up

in one draft without revising

in fragments without punctuation

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

5.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

What can you summarize?

only novels

only nonfiction

only movies

anything you read or watch

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

6.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

The article "The Three Men Who Invented the Telephone" is about three different men who contributed to the invention of the telephone. Which of the following should you include in a summary of this article?

details about how smartphones and cell phones work

a detail about where the phrase "put someone on hold" came form

a brief explanation of how each man was involved in the invention of the telephone

your opinion about who really invented the telephone

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.9

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

7.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

When summarizing, I should identify...

the main idea and supporting details of the plot

Just the main idea.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

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Summarizing and Finding the Main Idea

20 questions

What is a summary?

When would you most likely summarize a book?

A summary should

You should write your summary

What can you summarize?

The article "The Three Men Who Invented the Telephone" is about three different men who contributed to the invention of the telephone. Which of the following should you include in a summary of this article?

When summarizing, I should identify...

In my summary, I just summarize what the story said, and I do not give my personal opinions about what happened.

In my summary, I should try to avoid using a lot of quotations.

Which of these words could be used as a transition word?

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