Topic, Main Idea / Central Idea, Supporting Details: Improve Student Responses!

If your students are anything like mine, teaching them that a main idea / central idea is “what the passage is mostly about” just doesn’t cut it. This method of explanation yields weak student responses that typically only feature the passage’s topic, not the true main/central idea.

After years of experimentation, I’ve stumbled on a method of teaching main/central idea that seems to do the trick.

If taught carefully, deliberately, and repeatedly, students learning to find main/central idea can use the formula outlined in these materials to produce successful, test-appropriate responses.

NOTE: When I started teaching, my state relied on the term "main idea". Now, my state calls this same concept "central idea". This product includes two copies of the same materials (one featuring the term "main idea" and the other featuring the term "central idea"). While these terms can be used interchangeably, I want you to have the set that matches your state's terminology!

This product includes the following:

-Guided notes to teach definitions and step-by-step directions

-Practice activity on back of guided notes to reinforce skills

-Two-sided practice page with definition and answer formula review, plus three brief practice texts with questions. Great for skill review, formative assessment, or homework.

-Answer keys for all four sides, which are great to display when reviewing definitions/answers in a whole-class setting

Ink-saver (border free) version included!