Main Idea Activity Pack

This FREE Main Idea Activity Pack is a great way to help learners work backwards at figuring out the main idea of a text.

You might also like our Retelling Bundle – for both fiction and nonfiction!

*The free download can be found at the END of this post post. Click on the teal download button.

 

Main Idea Activity Pack

Many learners struggle with figuring out the main idea of a text. They may think the main idea is a topic that is way too broad or even a topic that is way too narrow, getting caught in the weeds of the details.

There are some subskills that learners need to develop before being able to master the main idea. These include things like:

• determining importance in both fiction and nonfiction
• using text features
• synthesizing
• understanding the text structure of nonfiction texts

One way to help learners with the main idea is to work backwards.

Instead of starting with the whole, like a whole text, start with the pieces {or the details} to help them see the whole. That’s exactly what we get to do with this main idea activity pack I’ve called, In the Bag.

 

How to Play In the Bag:

• I highly recommend that you demonstrate how to do this and explicitly explain its purpose before you ask learners to try it out their own.
• Ask learners to pick one card at a time from the bag.
• As they pick the cards, they should begin guessing what the category might be.
• While you might have them wait until the very end to finally guess, I like having them guess as their knowledge increases because it can be tied to the process of synthesizing while reading.
• When learners make a guess, ask questions like, “Why do you think that?” to expand the discussion.
• Once all the cards have been drawn, ask learners to make their final decision on what the category (or main idea) of the cards is.

I love how this activity helps learners zero in on synthesizing and main idea without the struggle of a text to deal with. It’s simple enough to teach to littles, but can be extended and explained to help older struggling readers, too. Ideas for extending this activity can be found in the PDF.

 

 

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky

 

Find more FREE Reading Comprehension Printables