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 Supporting Detail

Micah stayed in from Dan accidentally kicked
recess to help Shelly the ball onto the
with a reading project. roof of the school.