Mrs. Russo's Classroom
Learn to Read/Read to Learn
What's the Big Idea?
This week we are working on finding the Main Idea or what I call the Big Idea in our reading passages. Identifying main idea and supporting details is an important part of reading comprehension. Thus, developing this skill at an early age will allow your children to excel at reading and comprehension.
The main idea of a piece of writing is the central point the author tries to make. This can be an opinion, argument, or a general idea. Most of the time, but not always, the main idea is stated in a topic sentence. This sentence is usually near the beginning and sets up what the rest of the writing will be about.
Children may have an easier time finding the main idea in nonfiction than in fiction. You can help them by drawing upon their prior experiences. Teach them to look for a “big idea” or “message” an author is trying to get across with their story.
Encourage your children to think about main ideas. How did they identify the main idea? Where is the topic sentence?
Listen to a song about the main idea......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AYIK9rR9QmU
To listen to great stories and then ask your student about the Big Idea go to http://storylineonline.net .
To practice locating the main idea with games go to www.roomrecess.com.
Watch this clip to learn more about finding the main idea.