Key Ideas and Supporting Details

Main Idea:
To scuba dive you need a lot of special equipment.

What supporting detail would NOT go with this main idea?

• Scuba divers prefer the waters of the Caribbean.

• A mask is used to help the scuba diver see things underwater.

• A scuba diver uses an oxygen tank to breathe under water.

• Flippers make swimming in the ocean much easier.

What is the best question to ask yourself when you are trying to find the main idea?

• Who is the main character?

• What is the main event?

• What is one important detail?

• What point is the author trying to make?

When you determine the main idea and key details of a text while condensing information into a short paragraph, you are _____.

• predicting

• concluding

• summarzing

• judging

What do we call the sentences that justify the main idea?

• supporting details

• key words

• main characters

• central ideas

Frogs are amazing jumpers.

What detail would support this main idea?

• Frogs use their tongue to catch flies.

• A tadpole is the name of a young frog.

• The Fire-belly Toad has slightly warty skin.

• Frogs have long, powerful legs which help them leap long distances.

What detail would support this main idea?

• Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms.

• Octopuses like to live in coral reefs.

• Octopuses use camouflage to disguise themselves.

• Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming.

Earthquakes can cause a lot of destruction.

What supporting detail would NOT go with this main idea?

• Earthquakes can also be known as quakes, tremors, or temblors.

• Many bridges are demolished when they wobble in a quake.

• When a building is not made earthquake safe, it can crumble

  to the ground.

• Earthquakes can create tsunamis, which

  can flood cities.

Where is the main  idea located?

• First Sentence

• Anywhere in the passage

• In the End

• Nowhere

What do you call "what the story/passage is mostly about" in informational text?

• main idea

• theme

• inference

• plot

How do supporting details help to understand the main idea?

• Supporting details provide irrelevant information that distracts from the main idea.

• Supporting details contradict the main idea.

• Supporting details are unnecessary and do not contribute to understanding the main idea.

• Supporting details provide evidence, examples, and explanations that help to clarify and strengthen the main idea.