Read a short informational text and determine the main idea and supporting details. Click to check your answers then click on Practice.

A slide show with seventeen slides teaching about main ideas and supporting details within a text.

To understand a text, you must understand the central idea of the story. Learn how to recognize the central idea and supporting details with this article. Click the links at bottom right.

[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to identify main ideas through headings and chapter titles, and then to write appropriate titles of their own. Lessons are based on the books...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Five little monkeys sitting on a bed or sitting in a tree? In this close reading lesson plan, students will compare and contrast the actions of the characters in two of Eileen Christelow's beloved...

This interactive lesson offers clarification and practice in the realm of main ideas and details.

Written exercises related to identifying the main ideas and details are provided on this module. Students will enjoy learning about Valentine's Day in these text structure exercises.

This tutorial focuses on supporting details using a video of a paragraph from a book showing the topic sentence and two strong, reliable, supporting details. This is followed by a slideshow that stresses the need for variety in the types...

In this reading comprehension lesson unit, students are guided in learning how to find the main theme or idea of a text and understanding how details in the text convey that. Includes lots of exercises and examples, as well as...

Students practice finding the central idea and summary of a nonfiction piece about sea turtle nesting.

A slide show with fourteen slides with information and examples on finding the main ideas and supporting details in an informational text.

Learn about the difference between a stated main idea and an implied main idea. Then, practice finding the stated and implied main ideas in two short texts.

After reading the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, learners have the chance to express the way they feel when they have a bad day. They will make personal connections as well as develop...

This activity asks students to differentiate between main ideas and supporting details.

A Seed Discussion is a two-part strategy used to teach students how to engage in discussions about assigned readings. In the first part, students read selected text and identify "seeds" or key concepts of a passage which may need...

An expository essay written by a sixth-grader with notes calling attention to important writing concepts evident in the essay including a well-written title, opening sentence, thesis, main ideas, supporting details, and more.