Parent Corner

How do I help my child determine main ideas and supporting details?

Something to remember with this is that the main idea is what the WHOLE passage, book, or selection is about. The main idea should be more general than specific. Help your child look for titles and headings as these are usually clues to the main idea. Also check the first and last sentence (or paragraphs for longer texts) of the selection since most authors start and end their writing by identifying the main idea.

Supporting details are facts/information that describe the main idea. They must match the main idea. When looking for supporting details, help kids look for the "five W's": Who is this about? What are they doing? When did this happen? Where did this occur? Why did this happen?

This is a skill that the children will be using for the rest of their lives. Try to practice this often if possible. It doesn't have to be a "sit down and let's practice" time. You can practice main idea at dinner, in the car, or on a walk! One way to talk to them about main idea and details by asking about their day, then having them give more details about it. Talk about main ideas and details from movies, books, pictures, even the cereal box! Your conversations may look like this:

Parent: How was your day?

Child: It was great!

Parent: Why was it great? What happened today that was so good?

Child: My class and I sang a really fun song this morning, and I got to stand in front of the class to lead it! We also had pizza for lunch, which is my favorite...

(You may need to prompt more, of course.) :)

You can even practice this by playing the Main Idea Game. One of the player give the the main idea and have the rest of the players give details that match that topic. Try it backwards! Give the details and have your child try to figure out the main idea. Let your child lead the game, too!

Watch to make sure that your child's details relate to the topic. Many kids will give tons of wonderful details, but some of those details may not explain the main idea given. Another thing to watch for is the amount of details given. In school, your child will most likely not be able to stop writing after listing just one or two details. They will have to expand on the topic enough to give a clear picture of what they have learned.