Main Ideas & Supporting Details

The main idea of a paragraph is what all the sentences are about.

What is a “Main Idea?”

What are Supporting Details?

Supporting details help you to better understand the main idea.

Supporting details answer the questions of who, what, when and where.

There once was a boy who

had weird parents.No matter how

many times he told them not to, the weird parents did weird things whenever they

went out into the world.

There once was a boy who

had weird parents.No matter how

many times he told them not to, the weird parents did weird things whenever they

went out into the world.

The weird mother always

talked about the boy as if he

wasn’t there.“My son has a

belly button that sticks out. No one else in our family has one

like it.”

The weird mother always

talked about the boy as if he

wasn’t there.“My son has a

belly button that sticks out. No one else in our family has one

like it.”

And the weird father always asked the boy to do something silly. “Walk like a chicken,” he’d say.Of course the boy wouldn’t, so the weird father did it instead.

And the weird father always asked the boy

to do something silly.

“Walk like a chicken,” he’d

say.Of course the boy wouldn’t, so the

weird father did it instead.

Why do we need supporting details?

Supporting details help you get a better picture of the story.

They give you more information. This information helps you understand what

you are reading.

What main idea can you see going on here?

What details support that idea?