Main Idea and Details

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.

What is the main thing the author wants us to know?

• Frank's room was a mess.

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

• Frank liked potato chips.

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

Which of the following statements is TRUE about SUMMARIZING?

• A summary should include many story details.

• A summary is always found in the first sentence of a paragraph or chapter.

• A summary should always be fiction.

• A summary is what the passage is mostly about.

Which BEST DESCRIBES a SUMMARY?

• Main or most important idea of the text

• A really long detailed piece of writing

• A dumb thing teachers make you write

• The entire text in your own words

For the walls, Jenny thought she would use a bright yellow paint. She would pick a border that had mostly bright red and green colors, and maybe a little bit of blue. She already had found some curtains that were sky blue with streaks of red, blue and yellow that she thought would go great with the walls. And finally, she had picked a carpet that was mostly blue with specks of red and yellow. Jenny couldn't wait till she was done decorating her room. It was really going to look awesome.

• Jenny likes bright colors.

• Jenny was going to paint her room.

• Jenny was picking out colors and materials to decorate her room.

• Yellow is a good color to paint your walls.

Right now Jason was playing right field. He really wanted to play third base. Earlier this year, coach had put him in left field and second base in a game, but never at third base. Once in practice, coach let him play third base, but he kept missing ground balls. When he did stop one, he made a bad throw to first base. Maybe if he kept practicing, Jason would be good enough to play third base. That was his dream.

• Jason really wanted to play third base.

• Jason was the best player on his team.

• Jason had trouble catching ground balls.

• Jason was too lazy to practice.

It started when they got to the bears. Peter felt tired and his stomach hurt. He dragged himself over to see the elephants, which were eating from a stack of hay. Normally, the elephants were his favorite. Without much interest, Peter followed his classmates to the camels, which were busy swatting flies with their tails. Peter knew he should be having fun at the zoo, but he just felt terrible and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest. Even the lions and tigers did not interest him now. The best summary of this passage is...

• Peter's favorite animals were the elephants.

• The camels were swatting flies with their tails.

• It was really hot at the zoo.

• Peter didn't enjoy the zoo because he felt really bad.

Julie watched the ants as they carried small crumbs down the trail to the anthill. She thinks ants are very hard working and industrious little creatures. They always seemed busy, and you never saw an ant just laying around doing nothing. They were carrying food, building tunnels, or defending the anthill. One thing you could say about ants is that they sure aren't lazy. The best summary of this passage is:

• Ants carry many things.

• Some ants may bite you.

• Ants are hard workers.

• Some ants help take care of the queen.

As soon as she arrived at grandmother's house, Jessica ran into her bedroom to look at the blue quilt. It covered her grandmother's bed and was Jessica's favorite. It had patches of dark blue, medium blue, and light blue, with pictures of birds and flowers on every other patch. Jessica liked to take naps with the quilt wrapped around her. She loved the way it felt so soft and warm against her skin. Whenever she was visiting grandma, just looking at the quilt made Jessica happy. The best summary of this passage is...

• Jessica's grandmother has a pretty blue quilt.

• Jessica loved her grandmother's quilt.

• Jessica took naps at her grandmother's house.

• The quilt was warm.

Many people have not heard giraffes make noises. Giraffes do not use sounds to “talk” with each other. When hurt, giraffes make a low moo, something like a cow. When frightened, they make a short, high sound.

What is this paragraph mainly about?

• Giraffes do make noises.

• Giraffes talk all the time.

• Cows and giraffes talk to each other.

• Most people have heard giraffes talk.

Carson's older sister, Madison, is a very good student. She isn't satisfied to just get by in school. She is involved in extra activities at school, including the school's music program and the math club. She also always tries to answer the teacher's questions in class. What is this paragraph mainly about?

• Madison was born before Carson.

• Madison is a very good student.

• Madison likes to show off.

• Madison likes music.