Identify The Main Idea

1. What is the difference between the main idea and the theme of a text?
   

• 1. The main idea is what the story is mostly about. The theme is a universal message you take away from the story.
     

• 1. The author will tell you the theme.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Being a clown isn't all fun and games. Rodeo clowns expose themselves to great danger every time they perform. When cowboys dismount or bulls buck them off, rodeo clowns jump in front of the bulls and motion wildly to get their attention. In this way rodeo clowns provide an alternate target, and in doing so protect the rider. Of course, this is a very dangerous thing to do. So you see, sometimes clowning around can be serious business.

• 
  Sometimes clowns can mean serious business.

• Rodeo clowns never protect cowboys by putting themselves in danger.

• Cowboys and Rodeo Clowns are constantly in danger.

• A Rodeo bull's attention is easily caught by Rodeo clowns.

1. What is the purpose of identifying the central idea and theme of a text?
   

• To understand the message or lesson the author wants to convey to the reader.

• To understand the main topic or subject of the text.

Sometime in December of 1891, Dr. James Naismith was teaching gym at the YMCA College in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was raining, and Dr. Naismith was trying to keep his students active. He wanted them to play a rough game that would keep them moving. He didn't like a few ideas that were too rough. Then Naismith had his breakthrough. He wrote out the rules for a game with peach baskets fixed to ten-foot elevated tracks. Naismith's students played against one another, passing the ball around and shooting it into the peach baskets. Dribbling wasn't a part of the original game. Also, it took a while to realize that the game would run more smoothly if the bottoms of the baskets were removed. But this game grew to be one of the most popular sports in America today. Can you guess which one?

• 
  The most popular sport in America

• Dr. James Naismith's career in teaching

• How to get students active

• The invention of Basketball

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Before you put on that skeleton costume and rove door-to-door pandering for candy, take a minute to reflect on this tradition. Halloween is believed to have come from an ancient Celtic festival dating back some 2,000 years. November 1st was the Celtic New Year and marked the end of summer for the Celts. They celebrated on its eve by wearing costumes made of animal skins and dancing around bonfires. Over the next two millennia, this primitive celebration grew to be the candy-fueled costume ball that we know today.

• The origins of Halloween

• The New Celtic Year

• Primitive traditions

• Why the skeleton costume is the best for Halloween

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

You might think that all automobile fuels are the same, but they aren't. Automobiles can run on one of three types of fuel: gasoline, diesel, and biodiesel. All these fuels are burned inside the engine, creating the heat and energy used to power the car. But there are important differences between these fuels. Gasoline and diesel are more common than biodiesel. But each burns differently. Diesel fuel is heavier and less flammable than gasoline, so it has to be compressed before it will burn. Gasoline may be lighter than diesel, but both fuels are made from crude oil. On the other hand, biodiesel fuel is made from vegetables. Both biodiesel and diesel fuels must be burned in diesel engines, which only use diesel fuel. If gasoline is pumped into a diesel engine, it will have to be pumped out. These fuels may look pretty similar at the gas station, but remember that there are important differences between them or it may cost you.

• Which fuel is best to use for your car

• How fuels change the way we drive

• The benefits of biodiesel

• Gasoline, diesel, and biodiesel are all fuels, but they have important differences in how they are made and used.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Yellowstone National Park is mainly located in Wyoming, although three percent is located in the state of Montana. The Continental Divide of North America runs diagonally through the southwestern part of the park. The park sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, which is an average elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level. This plateau is bounded on nearly all sides by mountain ranges. There are 290 waterfalls that are at least fifteen feet in the park, the highest being the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, which falls 308 feet.

• Yellowstone Park's beautiful water falls

• Physical features of the Yellowstone Park

• The continental Divide of North America

• Why to visit Wyoming

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year. Brach's, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end. That's a lot of candy corn, but that's nothing compared to the production of Tootsie Rolls. Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day! But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry's staple product: chocolate. Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year. Now that's a mouthful!

• How much popular candies are sold each year

• Candy corn, the world's most abundant candy piece.

• The overpowering candy industry

• Tootsie Rolls are delicious

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Weather reporters have to give out a lot of information. That's why they use pictures. The pictures help them tell us about the weather without using so many words. Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is. They need to know where the warm air is. They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area. Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short. The pictures help weather reporters get the information out in a fast way.
Which sentence best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

answer choices

• Pictures help weather reporters get information out in a fast way

• Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short

• 
  Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is

• They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Sir Isaac Newton was contemplating the universe in his garden one day in 1665 when he noticed an apple fall from a tree. Newton wondered to himself, “Why should the apple always fall to the ground? Why does it not go sideways or upwards but directly toward the Earth’s center?”
After much contemplation, Newton concluded that objects are pulled to the Earth through a force that he called gravity, which means heaviness in Latin. On July 5th, 1687 Newton formally expressed his law of universal gravitation in a series of books called The Principia.

• The life of Isaac Newton

• What do you get when you contemplate the universe.

• A falling apple inspired Newton to think about gravity

• Isaac Newton studies the Earth's forces