Main Idea & Supporting Details — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Birds build nests. They use sticks, grass, and leaves. What is the main idea?
A) Birds eat seeds
B) Birds build nests
C) Birds can sing
D) Birds are blue
Sticks, grass, and leaves are the things birds put together to make nests, so the main idea is that birds build nests. The other choices are not what the sentences talk about.
2. Tom helps at home. He cleans his room and feeds the cat. What is this mostly about?
A) Tom plays outside
B) Tom helps at home
C) Tom goes to school
D) Tom eats dinner
Cleaning a room and feeding the cat are both ways of helping at home, so this is mostly about Tom helping at home. The other choices happen somewhere else.
3. Which is a detail that supports: It was a rainy day?
A) Puddles were on the ground
B) The sun was bright
C) We went swimming
D) Flowers were dry
Puddles form when rain falls, so puddles on the ground support the idea that it was a rainy day. A bright sun, swimming, and dry flowers do not match a rainy day.
4. The farm has cows, pigs, and chickens. What is the main idea?
A) The farm has many animals
B) The farm is small
C) Pigs can fly
D) Cows drink water
Cows, pigs, and chickens are all different animals living on the farm, so the main idea is that the farm has many animals. The other choices give wrong or unrelated facts.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Supporting details tell us more about the main idea.
Small bits of information that tell more about the main idea are called details, so the missing word is details. They help the main idea make sense.
2. The main idea is the most important thought.
The most important thought in a story is its main idea, so the word main fits. The main idea stands above all the smaller facts.
3. A good reader looks for the big idea in a story.
A good reader hunts for the big idea, which is the main one in the story. The big idea is what the story is really about.
4. Facts and details help you understand the topic.
Facts and details work together to teach you more about the topic. Both give you helpful information that builds the big picture.
5. The topic of a story is what it is all about.
What a story is all about is its topic, so the missing word is topic. The topic names the one thing the story keeps coming back to.