A Fun Way to Remember
Main Idea
and Supporting Details too!
Hi! My name is Micah.
My teacher, Mrs. Bell, has
been talking about main
idea and supporting details
for months. I have to
admit, I still don’t
understand what she’s
talking about. I’m too
embarrassed to ask her,
so yesterday I decided to
ask my friend Ian.
This is Ian.
He gave me a great
strategy for remembering
main idea. He told me to
remember the time last
week when I got sent to the
principal’s office. At first, I
thought he was crazy. What
did going to the principal’s
office have to do with main
idea?
Here’s what Ian told me.
He said, “Last week, Kara told the recess
monitor, Ms. Troyer, that you stole the
kickball at recess.”
“That’s right,” I said. “Later that day, I got
called to the principal’s office to tell my story.
When I got to Mr. Jenkins’ office, I told him
there was no way I could have stolen the
kickball at recess.”
But I was still confused. What
did any of this have to do with
main idea?
Ian went on to explain, “When you told Mr.
Jenkins that there was no way you could
have stolen that ball, you were telling him the
main reason why you were innocent. At that
point, you hadn’t told him the whole story.
You just told him one sentence that summed
up why you were in his office.”
He continued, “That’s what
main idea is all about. It is a
general statement that tells
the most important idea. But,
it’s not the whole story. To
learn more, you need some
supporting details to back up
your main idea. When you
were in the principal’s office, it
wasn’t enough to tell him you
couldn’t have stolen that ball.
You needed proof. You
needed some help to support
your innocence. That’s where
Shelly and Dan came to the
rescue.”
Mr. Jenkins said “I need more
information.”
That day when I was in the office, I
could tell that what I told Mr. Jenkins
was not specific enough. He needed
more proof. So I asked him to call
Shelly down to the office. She told Mr.
Jenkins that I stayed in from recess to
help her finish her reading project.
She gave him specific information
about what I was doing to help
support my story.
Having one piece of evidence, is
usually not enough, so I asked Mr.
Jenkins if he could ask Dan about
what happened.
Dan came down to the office and
said “It’s true. Micah didn’t steal the
kickball because I accidentally
kicked it on the roof. I was wearing
the same color shirt as Micah that
day. I bet Kara got confused and
thought I was Micah. Then when the
ball disappeared, she probably
assumed it was stolen. But you can
check, it’s on the roof.”
Now I was starting to understand.
Ian said, “Shelly and Dan supported
your story. They proved that what you
had said was true. That’s what
supporting details, and good friends,
do.”
One more thing
He added, “But it wouldn’t have made sense
to ask Bobby to support you, he was in the
nurse’s office. He was in a different part of the
building and had nothing to do with what went
on at recess. Remember that with details too.
When you pick a supporting detail, make sure
it comes from the same part of the story and
gives more information about your main
idea.”
I get it!
Now I understand main idea and
supporting details. I don’t know why it
was so hard. Ian even showed me how I
could put my story into a graphic
organizer like Mrs. Bell does.
MAIN IDEA
Micah did not
steal the ball
at recess.
Supporting Detail
Micah stayed in from
recess to help Shelly
with a reading project.
Supporting Detail
Dan accidentally kicked
the ball onto the
roof of the school.