Can we agree that students’ understanding of main idea and details is pretty important? And I’m sure we can agree we need a way to make it stick.
I have you covered! Sign up here to get your Main Idea Starter Kit, which includes so much of what you’ll read about in this post.
So here are several activities that will engage your students while helping them understand main idea and key details.
Main Idea Anchor Charts
Through the years, I’ve seen many creative anchor charts. Here are a few of my favorite. As you can see, the main idea is the picture and the details are the little things that make it. These visuals are a powerful tool that will allow your students to have a better understanding of the terms.
Activities for Main Idea and Supporting Details
Main Idea Bags
These bags are a hands-on interactive activity for understanding main idea and details. Begin by putting items in a bag that describe a main idea. For example, place a baseball, mitt, and baseball cap in a bag. Show your students the items, or details, and have them determine the main idea. Without a doubt, your kids will love these main idea mystery bags!
Main Idea Pictures
After that, hand out several pictures to individual students or groups of students. Then have them use the pictures to determine the main idea.
Main Idea Game
Put students in groups. Using the list in the Starter Kit, list off some details. Have students determine the main idea. Award points to groups that are able to answer correctly.
Main Idea for Kids
Main Idea Examples
Primary grade students need very basic examples to build a foundational understanding of main idea and details. Give your students a picture, for example, a shark. Have them label the details of the shark. This gives students the opportunity to practice identifying the details. After, have kids share using main idea sentence starters, so they can continue practicing the language.
Main Idea Worksheets
Give kids independent practice with main idea worksheets. They can also cut pictures out of magazines that represent one main idea and the pictures are the details.
As a result, these activities build language with students and an understanding of two terms that, as we agreed, are pretty important.
To sum it up, get the Main Idea Starter Kit here!
For more on this topic, check out Main Idea Graphic Organizer in 3 Easy Steps.
