Determining Main Idea and Key Details

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

• Who is the main character?

• What is one important detail?

• What is the author's main point/message in this text?

• What is the event being discussed in the text?

What is the topic in the following paragraph?

Shanna had never seen so many fish before. She looked around at the huge tanks and could see hundreds of fish, crabs, shrimp, and all other amazing creatures completely surrounding her. She never thought she could feel like she was completely underwater, yet still be completely dry.

• The ocean

• The aquarium

• The mall

• The park

What is the main idea of the following paragraph?

Floods can cause tremendous damage. They can ruin houses, roads and buildings. Floods can take down trees and cause mudslides. It often leaves mud, sand and debris behind. It can take months to clean up after a flood.

• Floods take months to clean up

• Floods can cause landslides

• Floods can cause tremendous damage

The topic of a text can often be found in the title or in the opening paragraph of the text.

• True

• False

What is the main idea of the following paragraph?

When we think of seaweed, we usually picture brown or green plants a foot or so in length. Seaweeds are also of other colors. Some are red. Some kinds grow to lengths of a hundred feet! These form giant seaweed forests, where many kinds of fish take shelter.

• Why some seaweed grows so large

• Why seaweed is red

• What seaweed is like

Which sentence is a key/supporting detail that you should get enough sleep each night?

• Dark rooms are best for sleeping

• Seven to nine hours of sleep each night keeps you refreshed the next day

• Many people sleep longer during the weekends

• Caffeine keeps some people awake at night

A key detail is defined as the "who" or "what" a text is about.

• True

• False

What is the main idea of the following paragraph?

Sharks can lose up to 30,000 teeth in their lifetime. Sharks have teeth arranged in rows inside their mouths. These teeth do not have roots like human teeth do, so they fall out easily. When a shark takes a powerful bite into its food, several teeth are lost. When these teeth are lost, new ones push forward from the back rows to replace them. Luckily, sharks continually grow new teeth to replace the thousands they lose.

• Sharks lose many teeth over the course of their lifetime

• Shark teeth are very different from human teeth

• Sharks are carnivorous predators

What is the main idea of the following paragraph?

Animals and plants living in deserts have adaptations which enable them to survive there. Desert plants have little or no leaves where moisture can escape. They also have deep roots to soak up water underground. Many desert animals are nocturnal. They burrow in the soil or sand during the hottest part of the day and are active at night when it is cooler. Desert animals also survive by getting the water they need from desert plants.

• It rains very little in the desert

• Many different types of animals live in the desert

• Plants/animals in the desert have unique ways of surviving the heat and lack of rainfall

Which sentence is a supporting detail that recycling is important?

• There are many landfills available for waste

• You should clean all items before recycling them

• Recycling paper saves trees from being cut down

• Separate your paper, cans, and glass jars before recycling them