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5  USE A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Have students find the main idea and supporting details in a nonfiction selection. Use a main idea chart to help students organize their thoughts.
Choose passages carefully to practice this succession of skills:
  • Paragraphs: stated main idea (Grades 2–6); implied main idea (Grades 3–6)
  • Articles: stated main idea (Grades 4–6); implied main idea (Grades 4–6)
Graphic Organizer 16
Graphic Organizer 16
1  EXPLAIN ITS USE
Explain that finding the main idea is an important tool in helping students understand and remember what they read.
2  DEFINE TOPIC SENTENCE
Explain that the topic is the subject, what the selection is all about. The main idea is the most important idea about the topic. The main idea can be stated in a sentence.
3   MODEL FINDING THE MAIN IDEA
   Read a nonfiction paragraph with a stated main idea. Have students    identify the topic by asking: What is this paragraph about? Then
   model how you determine the main idea.
4   FINDING SUPPORTING DETAILS
   Explain that supporting details are small pieces of information that
   tell more about the main idea. Model how to identify supporting
   details.
Main Idea/Details
Determining the main idea in a text helps readers distinguish between important and less important information. When students can correctly identify the main idea, they understand the gist of what they read. Use this routine to teach main idea.
Keene, Ellin Oliver, and Susan Zimmermann. Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader's Workshop. Heinemann, 1997, p. 86.
Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann,
Mosaic of Thought
"When great readers are reading this stuff that has so many ideas in it, they have to listen to that mental voice tell them which words, which sentences or paragraphs, and which ideas are most important. Otherwise they won't get it."
FOCUS ON RESEARCH
Research on Main Idea/Details