Free Printable Main Idea & Supporting Details

Worksheets

Main Idea & Supporting Details

Total questions: 12

Worksheet time: 26mins

Name

Class

Date

What is the main idea?

Where the story takes place

What the character is thinking

The big idea of the text

What a dog eats

What are supporting details?

Useless

The main topic of a passage.

Details about the text that tell you about the setting

Details from the text that develop or support the main idea

Which sentence is the main idea?

Dogs are nice pets. You can play with them. They wag their tails. They are also soft and friendly.

You can play with them.

Dogs are nice pets.

They wag their tails.

They are also soft and friendly.

Jake's family went on a camping trip. They went to a park by the ocean. They rode their bikes around the park and cooked their food over a fire outside. They saw some deer. They came home Sunday afternoon.
What is the main idea?

They saw some deer

Jake's family likes to camp

Jake's family went on a camping trip

They cooked their food outside

Niagra Falls is one of the most beautiful sights in North America. It is on the Niagra River halfway between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Niagra Falls is located on the American and Canadian border. The American Falls is 167 feet high. On the Canadian side, the Horseshoe Falls is 161 feet high.
Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail?

The American Falls is 167 feet high

The Horseshoe Falls is 161 feet high

Niagra Falls is one of the most beautiful sights in North America

It is located between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie

What is the topic of this paragraph?

Cooking is fun! You can make eggs. You can feed your family a meal. You can taste the delicious food.

family

cooking

eggs

delicious

Danger often appears in the most unexpected places. People usually think of the bathtub as a safe, quiet place. But more accidents occur there than anywhere else in the home. Slips or falls that occur while entering and leaving the tub injure thousands of people every year. Most people think of a baker as having a safe and pleasant job; however, rolling, kneading, and pounding dough causes clouds of flour dust, which can enter the lungs and disable the baker.
Which of the following is NOT a supporting detail?

Some activities are more dangerous than they look

thousands of people are hurt in tub accidents every year

People think bakers have a safe job

Bakers can be disable by flour in their lungs

Hummingbirds love pink or red flowers. They guard their favorite flowers and try to keep other birds away. They fight one another for food. Their wings make a whirring sound when they hover over flowers to sip nectar. The tiny birds fly long distances to go to a warmer climate for the winter. They make their tiny nests in shrubs or trees.
What is the main idea?

Hummingbirds are interesting birds

They hover over flowers to sip nectar.

They fly long distances to travel to warmer climates in the winter

They guard their favorite flowers

Maria is watching too much television. A toddler shouldn't be spending hours staring blankly at a screen. Worse yet, some of her wild behavior has been inspired by those awful cartoons she watches. We need to spend more time reading books with her and pull the plug on the TV.
What is the main idea?

Watching a lot of television isn't good for Maria

Books are good

All cartoons are bad

Some cartoons are bad for Maria

10.

It was backwards day at school. The students had to do things backwards. Some wore their t-shirts backwards. Dessert was served first at lunch. They turned their papers upside down to write. They tried to write backwards. The school even took things to a higher level and started school in the afternoon

Students had backwards day at school

Students had to write backwards

11.

What would be a supporting detail for this main idea: My grandpa is an expert mechanic

He lets me ride in his truck when I see him

He was able to fix a car that was 50 yrs old

Most people don't work on their own car

12.

Which sentence is a supporting detail that you should get enough sleep?

Many people sleep later on the weekends.

Caffeine keeps some people awake at night.

Dark rooms are best for sleeping.

Seven to nine hours keeps you refreshed the next day.

100 %

Main Idea & Supporting Details

Total questions: 12

Worksheet time: 26mins

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