Main Idea and Supporting Details
The main idea is the author’s key message. It is supported with details that usually answer the “W” and “H” questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how). You can often find the main idea at the beginning of a paragraph in the “topic sentence”. It is sometimes found at the end of a paragraph as a summary statement.
In the example below, we will use a text from one of our audible stories to learn about the main idea and supporting details. Here is an excerpt from the Go Read and Write Podcast Story “Being First”:
“You see, from his early years, he had always wanted to be first. Being “first” was the most important thing in his life. He wanted to be the first one in his age group to toboggan on his belly down the hills. Peter tried to be the fastest swimmer in the ocean. He learned how to jump the highest when he moved out of the water and back onto the land. In fact, Peter tried to compete with the other penguins his age in the colony in whatever activity they were doing….”
Question:
Let’s say that you were asked “What is the Main idea in a paragraph?” What would you do?
What is the main idea in this paragraph? Look at the first part of the paragraph. The first sentence tells us that he had always wanted to be first. So, the main idea is that he wanted to be first.
What are the supporting details? Look for at least three details to support this idea. The text says that… “He wanted to be the first one in his age group to toboggan on his belly down the hills. Peter tried to be the fastest swimmer in the ocean. He learned how to jump the highest when he moved out of the water and back onto the land.” Each of the bolded phrases can be used as supporting details.
So, now write your paragraph answer. Start with the main idea and give your supporting details. Add some transition words (first, next, in addition, finally, also) to make things flow.
Here is a sample of a simple paragraph answer about the main idea in this text.
“The main idea of this paragraph is that Peter wanted to be first in everything he did. First, Peter want to be the first one to learn to toboggan down the hill. Also, Peter wanted to be the fastest swimmer in the group. In addition, Peter wanted to jump the highest. It seems as if the most important thing for Peter was being “first”.
You can find the podcast story and other resources at Smart Literacy Resources for Kids