Main Idea

When reading any type of text, students must understand what it is about. This means understanding many aspects, such as the main idea, supporting details, and figurative language. Honestly, there is so much to focus on when reading! To help students, teachers often break down skills. This is a great way to ensure students learn each aspect without becoming overwhelmed. Luckily, there are amazing activities and resources to guide students through their learning. For instance, the main idea anchor chart will support students every step of the way! While the topic may be challenging, students will love identifying the main idea!

Why is identifying the main idea important?

In many ways, finding the main idea signals a strong comprehension of the text. This is because it is the topic that the author is communicating to readers. So, identifying the main idea means that readers can tie all the sentences together. After students identify the main idea, they can work on other essential skills, such as inferences and supporting details. 

Why is finding the main idea challenging?

While it may seem simple to identify the main idea, it really isn’t! Students often have difficulty identifying the most important information when reading. They often find all of the information important! Or, students struggle to explain what the writing is mainly about. They often want to restate all the details but cannot identify the common trend among all aspects. So, when working on main idea, it is helpful to set aside lots of time for practice! 

Activities to Support Finding the Main Idea 

Thankfully, there are incredible activities to help students identify a passage’s main idea. 

1. Main Idea Anchor Chart: You will anchor your students’ reading skills with these fantastic main idea anchor charts! This provides an excellent reference chart for students to review and utilize when working on main idea. Specifically, the anchor charts remind students what main idea is and how it differs from the topic. Additionally, main idea anchor charts provide tips on identifying what the text is about. Students will love using these charts to support their learning!
2. Main Idea Task Cards: Students need practice when identifying main idea! Luckily, this includes 12 task cards with images and 12 with nonfiction reading passages. The passages even have growth mindset concepts to remind students to believe in themselves. On top of this, there are main idea anchor charts for student reference. Students will love practicing with these task cards!
3. Main Idea Boom Cards: When students work on challenging content, they often need a lot of help and guidance. However, this is tough to manage with one teacher for the entire classroom! Thankfully, Boom Cards help answer student questions. This is because they are self-checking! So, students receive instant feedback on their answers. All 27 task cards allow students to identify the main idea and instantly receive feedback. 

There is even scaffolding built into the Boom Cards! Students will begin looking at an image and choose what it is mostly about. Then, they will progress to reading a small passage and determining the main idea of the passage. Students will love gaining confidence as they move through the cards. 

1. Main Idea Puzzles: Many times, students struggle to identify the main idea versus supporting details. So, using main idea puzzles is really helpful. Students begin by receiving short passages, main ideas, and supporting details. Then, students put together the pieces to showcase the main idea and the supporting details. As students gain confidence, they can write the main idea on the top puzzle piece and fill in the supporting information.
2. Main Idea Sort: Honestly, the saying “Practice Makes Perfect!” applies to main idea. Students need time to practice identifying the main idea with various supports. As they gain the needed skills and confidence, they can identify the main idea independently. So, to help students get there, creating a main idea sort is so helpful. 

To do this, begin with 4-5 short passages. Then, provide the different main ideas on strips of paper. Students should read the passages and see if they can match the main idea strip to the correct passage. As students build skills, use passages that are similar to each other. This will help ensure students truly focus on the meaning. 

1. Main Idea versus Theme: As students start successfully identifying main idea, it is the perfect time to add in other literary terms. So, I have students use the main idea anchor chart to remember that this term focuses on what the story is about. Then, I add in theme to have the class focus on the lesson or moral of the story. Ultimately, students identify the main idea and theme of the same passage! This is the perfect way to incorporate multiple standards. 

Honestly, teaching main idea is tough! Students have to identify what the story is about and distinguish it from supporting details. Luckily, the main idea anchor chart and task card activities will help ensure students have lots of hands-on practice to make this learning fun! 

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