Main Idea and Summary

When some people think about Texas, they think of cowboys on the open range-herding cattle up a dusty trail. However, Texas has much more than open prairie with large herds of cows. There are the mountains of West Texas, the piney hills of east Texas, and the emerald waters off the coast of Padre Island. Texas also has large coastal harbors with numerous sailboats, powerboats, inland lakes, rivers, swamps of southeast Texas with alligators and other exotic wildlife.
The Summary of this passage is:

• There are a lot of cows in Texas.

• There are many different, varied parts of Texas.

•  Texas is one of the biggest states in the United States.

•  There are alligators in the swampland of southeast Texas.

When writing a summary, what type of information do you want to use for the supporting details?

• All of the information that the article gives

• Only the important information or key details that the article gives

• Only the extra information or "fluff" that the article gives

• Whatever facts the reader thinks are most interesting

There are about 13,000 wild horses in our country.  Most are in the high lands of the Southwest.  The horses find great difficulty in getting food during the winter months.  Snow covers the grass and small bushes that they feed on.  Their numbers grow smaller each year.  What is the main idea?

• Where wild horses live

• Why grass and bushes can't be seen

• What is happening to our wild horses

One dinosaur had a brain that weighed about as much as three pencils.  Its body weighed ten tons and was over twenty feet in length.  As you can guess, this dinosaur did not think too clearly.  It wasn't the world's brightest dinosaur!  What is the main idea of this paragraph?

• How big one dinosaur was

• What one dinosaur's brain was like

• Why one dinosaur had a small brain

What is the main idea?

• The details the author includes

• The summary on the back of the book

• The main point the author wants to prove

• The title of the book

What are the two summary strategies we learned about?

• BWE

• BME

• Somebody Wanted But So Then

• Who What Where When Why

What are supporting details used for in a text?

• They aren't used for anything

• To describe the main idea

• For fun

• To grow your vocabulary

A summary retells the _______________ of a story in a few sentences

What should you include in a summary?

• Most important ideas or points

• Your own opinions

• The story retold in your own words

• Complete Sentences

Which of the following is the best summary of the story of Cinderella?

• My favorite part of Cinderella was when she married the prince.

• Cinderella wanted to go to the ball but her stepmother wouldn't let her. So, her fairy godmother helped her and then she married the prince.

• Finally, Cinderella got her slipper back and married the prince. First she got mean stepsisters and in the middle she wanted to go to the ball.

• Cinderella had a tough life because of her step sisters.