Getting the Main Idea

And learning to write supportive detail sentences……

It is important to find main ideas when reading. Main

ideas help readers remember important information.

• The main idea of a paragraph tells the topic of the paragraph. The topic tells what all or most of the sentences are about.

• The other sentences in the paragraph are called details. Details describe or explain the main idea.

Read the paragraph and find the main idea…

• The rain forest is home to many creatures. Monkeys, toucans and macaws live in the rain forest. Blue Morpho butterflies and anteaters also live in the rain forest.

• What is the main idea?• The rain forest is home to many

creatures.

• What are the two details?• Monkeys, toucans and macaws live in

the rain forest. Blue Morpho butterflies and anteaters also live in the rain forest.

Try this one….• Soccer players learn many skills when playing

soccer. Soccer players learn how to dribble and pass the ball. They also learn how to control the ball so they can eventually score. Most importantly, soccer players learn how to work together with their teammates.

• What is the main idea?• What are the three details?

Ok, this is easy…..

• How can the skill of identifying a main idea and details help you get a higher score on your open responses?

Your main idea becomes your restated question….

• It tells the reader what you will be writing about.

Your details become your support from the passage you read….

• You need to write at least three details by stating things from the passage you read.

Example 1

• There are many fun things to do at the beach. Swimming is one thing that can be done at the beach. Snorkeling is another thing that can be enjoyed. Playing beach volleyball can be a lot of fun. It is also fun to look for shells. Some people simply like to sunbathe.

OR ?

• Name some things that you can do at the beach. Support your answer with examples from the story.

There are many fun things to do at the beach. Swimming is one thing that can be done at the beach. Snorkeling is another thing that can be enjoyed. Playing beach volleyball can be a lot of fun. It is also fun to look for shells. Some people simply like to

sunbathe.

The first sentence not only restates your question, but tells the reader what you are going to write about……

My answer now looks like this..

• There are many fun things to do at the beach.

But…..this is only a 1………………

You need to add details from the story…..

• There are many fun things to do at the beach. Swimming is one thing that can be done at the beach. Snorkeling is another thing that can be enjoyed. Playing beach volleyball can be a lot of fun. It is also fun to look for

shells. Some people simply like to sunbathe.

• Simply use your order words, and add these paraphrased sentences to your answer.

Now your answer looks like this…..

There are many fun things to do at the beach. One thing that can be done at the beach is swimming. Another thing that can be enjoyed is snorkeling. Playing beach volleyball is another fun thing to do. It might also be fun to look for shells. One other thing some people like to do is sunbathe.

We now have a restated question, and five things the story said that people can do at the beach. This is a definite 4!

OR Checklist

• Did you restate the question?• Did you tell the reader what you are writing

about?• Did you give at least three details from the

story?

• If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you are on your way to building good open response habits for writing 4’s!