MAP 6th Grade Reading

A comprehensive course designed to build and assess reading comprehension, analysis, and interpretation skills for 6th graders, preparing them for the MAP Reading test and real-world literacy.
Understanding Main Idea & Supporting DetailsMaking InferencesAnalyzing Characters and Setting
Interpreting Figurative LanguageSummarizing Informational TextEvaluating Arguments and Claims
Reading for School ProjectsReading in Everyday LifeUsing Context Clues to Learn New Words
Previewing and PredictingAnswering Multiple-Choice Questions
Understanding Main I...Making InferencesAnalyzing Characters...Interpreting Figurat...Summarizing Informat...Evaluating Arguments...Reading for School P...Reading in Everyday ...Using Context Clues ...Previewing and Predi...Answering Multiple-C...
Basic Concepts

Understanding Main Idea & Supporting Details

What is the Main Idea?

The main idea is the most important point the author wants you to understand from a passage or text. It's like the heart of the story or article!

Finding Supporting Details

Supporting details are facts, examples, or descriptions that help explain or prove the main idea. These are like clues that help you figure out what the main idea is.

How to Spot Them

  • Ask yourself: What is this paragraph mostly about?
  • Look for repeated ideas or words.
  • Notice what details keep coming up or are emphasized.

Why Does It Matter?

Understanding the main idea and its supporting details helps you summarize texts, answer questions, and remember what you read.

Real-World Connections

  • News articles usually have a main idea in the first paragraph, with the rest of the article giving supporting details.
  • When you read instructions or recipes, the main idea tells you the purpose, and the steps are the details.

Examples

  • In a passage about recycling, the main idea is that recycling helps the planet, and supporting details include statistics about waste and descriptions of recycling processes.

  • A story about a student training for a race focuses on the main idea of perseverance, with details about their daily practice and struggles.

In a Nutshell

Learn to find the big idea in a text and the clues that support it.

Key Terms

Main Idea
The central point or message in a piece of writing.
Supporting Details
Facts, examples, or explanations that back up the main idea.
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Making Inferences