Identifying the Main Idea

I went to the ice cream shop and ate a huge sundae. When I got home, supper was ready. Mom had cooked my favorite meal. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t make myself eat.

What is the main idea?

• I like ice cream.

• Mom is a good cook.

• I was too full to eat supper.

• I was sick.

I have a dog named Boots. I taught him lots of tricks. When I tell him to, Boots will sit or lie down. He can also wave his paw to greet people. When I say, "Dance, Boots.", he will stand up on two legs and walk. I don't know of many dogs that can do such amazing tricks.

What is the main idea?

• Boots is my dog.

• Boots can sit.

• Boots is very smart.

• Most dogs can't dance.

Some kinds of bats eat many insects. Some bats can eat up to 600 mosquitos in one hour. Bats are helpful to the environment. They help us by eating insects. Without bats, we would have too many insects.

What is the main idea?

• Bats are mammals.

• Bats eat 600 mosquitos in one hour.

• Bats eat many insects.

• Bats are helpful.

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 take months to clean up.

• Floods can cause landslides.

• Floods can cause tremendous damage.

• None of the choices.

Jenny visited her grandmother in the hospital. She saw how kind and helpful the nurses were to her grandmother. Now she wants to be a nurse when she grows up. She wants to help sick people get well.

What is the main idea?

• Jenny got sick.

• Her grandmother was in the hospital.

• Jenny was glad the nurses were being kind to her grandmother.

• Jenny wants to be a nurse.

What kind of sentence tells the main idea of a paragraph?

• supporting detail

• topic sentence

• example sentence

• transition sentence

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

The main idea of a passage is more specific than the topic.

• True

• False

If you read an essay about how important recycling is to our environment, what is the main idea?

• People shouldn't make so much plastic.

• People should pick up trash.

• People should eat healthy food.

• Recycling is important to protect the environment.

Which of the following is a step to identify the main idea?

• Ignore the title

• Pay attention to the title, headings, and subheadings

• Skip the first paragraph

• Only read the last sentence.