Grades 4-7

1. Main Ideas and
Supporting Details

2. What is the author trying to say about
the following topic?

3. Read these examples:
Skateboarding is the
best sport ever. Both
girls and boys enjoy
defying gravity. It is
great exercise, and fun
to watch besides.
That's
why so many towns
build skateboard
parks
for recreation.

4. Skateboarding is the
worst sport ever. It
is very dangerous
and often harms
innocent bystanders.
Skateboarders do
dumb things like
grab
onto cars, and skate
in the street. It
should be outlawed.

5. What is the first main idea of the
first paragraph?
(The main idea of a story tells you what the entire story
is about. You should be able to tell the main idea of a
story in just one sentence.
You can also think of the main idea as the reason a story
was written.)
Let’s look again…

6. :
Skateboarding is the
best sport ever. Both
girls and boys enjoy
defying gravity, it is
great exercise, and fun
to watch besides.
That's
why so many towns
build skateboard
parks
for recreation.

7. The main idea of the first
paragraph is…..
Is there other, more specific
information in the paragraph
that supports this main idea?

8. What are supporting details?
Supporting details are examples
and extra information that help
you understand the main idea.

9. When you are looking for the main
idea of a paragraph and the
supporting details think of a hand .

10. What is the first main idea of the
second paragraph? Let’s look
again…

11. Skateboarding is the
worst sport ever. It
is very dangerous
and often harms
innocent bystanders.
Skateboarders do
dumb things like
grab
onto cars, and skate
in the street. It
should be outlawed.

12. The main idea of the second
paragraph is…..

13. What are supporting details?

14. Let’s look at the this paragraph.
Sally went shopping after
school Friday and all day on
Saturday, and she bought a lot
of new outfits. On Sunday her
mother took her to the outlet
mall so she could finish buying
clothes for the new school year.
She also bought school supplies
so she would be prepared for
her classes.

15. What is the main idea of this
paragraph?
What are some supporting
details in this paragraph?
Sally bought new outfits.
Sally bought school supplies.

16. Why do we need supporting
details?
Supporting details help you get a better picture of the
story.
They give you more information.
Often, this information will reach one or more of your
five senses.