Story Comprehension: Main Idea and Detail

Short passages with a main-idea question and a detail question on each.

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Page 1 of 16
Deshawn's neighborhood had nowhere to play basketball, so he started a petition. He collected 212 signatures and brought them to the town council. Six months later the empty lot on Cedar Street had two hoops and a new fence. What is the MAIN IDEA?
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Session summary (SOAP)

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Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.

How to run it

Ask the main idea question first, before the detail one. Reading for detail changes how a student reads, and a student who knows a number question is coming will hunt for numbers rather than sense. When a detail answer is wrong, send them back to the passage; when a main idea answer is wrong, ask which sentences the choice would have to cover. Fifteen minutes covers the sixteen.

Cueing ladder

Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.

  1. Step 1IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
  2. Step 2Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
  3. Step 3Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
  4. Step 4ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued

Adjust it

Easier

Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.

Harder

Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.

Matching IEP goal

Given a picture or story prompt, Student will state the main idea and two supporting details in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.

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About this activity

Sixteen items across short passages, each asked twice — once for the main idea and once for a detail: Deshawn collected 212 signatures and the empty lot got two hoops; honeybees carry pollen between flowers and about one of every three bites of food depends on it. Asking both questions on the same passage is the design, since the two require different reading.

What to listen for

Watch students who get every detail and no main idea, which is a common and specific pattern — the information is retained and not organised. Notice the distractors: Cedar Street has an empty lot is true and is not the main idea, and a student who chooses a true-but-minor option is confusing accuracy with importance.

Carrying it home

Any short article works. Asking what it was mostly about, and then one specific question, takes two minutes and mirrors exactly what assessments do — and asking the main-idea question first matters at home as much as it does in a session.

What's in this activity

  • Deshawn's neighborhood had nowhere to play basketball, so he started a petition. He collected 212 signatures and brought them to the town council. Six months later the empty lot on Cedar Street had two hoops and a new fence. What is the MAIN IDEA?
    • A boy's petition got a basketball court built
    • Cedar Street has an empty lot
    • Town councils meet every six months
    • Deshawn likes basketball
  • Same passage. How many signatures did Deshawn collect?
    • 6
    • 112
    • 212
    • Two
  • Honeybees do more than make honey. As they move flower to flower, pollen sticks to their legs and rubs off on the next plant. Without that trip, many fruits and vegetables would never grow. About one of every three bites of food we eat depends on a pollinator. What is the MAIN IDEA?
    • Bees sting when they are scared
    • Bees matter because they pollinate the plants we eat
    • Honey is made out of pollen
    • Bees have hairy legs
  • Same passage. How much of our food depends on pollinators?
    • All of it
    • About half
    • About one bite in three
    • None of it
  • Ms. Alvarez told the class the field trip was canceled. Rain had washed out the road to the nature center, and the bus company would not drive it. The trip will be rescheduled for May. WHY was the trip canceled?
    • The bus broke down
    • Rain washed out the road
    • The nature center closed
    • Not enough students signed up
  • Same passage. What will happen next?
    • The trip will never happen
    • The class will walk there
    • The class will go in May
    • Ms. Alvarez will drive the bus
  • Sea otters float on their backs and crack open shellfish on rocks they balance on their chests. They also wrap themselves in kelp so they don't drift away while they sleep. What is the MAIN IDEA?
    • Sea otters sleep a lot
    • Sea otters use clever tricks to eat and to rest
    • Kelp grows in the ocean
    • Shellfish are hard to open
  • Same passage. Why do sea otters wrap up in kelp?
    • To stay warm
    • To hide from sharks
    • To keep from floating away
    • To catch food

Questions

What grades is this for?
Third through fifth, matched to comprehension assessment at that level.
Is it free?
Yes, all sixteen items play with no account.
My student gets details right and main ideas wrong. What now?
That is a common pattern — information retained but not organised. Asking which sentences an answer would have to cover is usually more effective than re-explaining what a main idea is.

Use this board with your caseload

With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.

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