main idea

MAIN IDEA

BY TRACI STUARTAdapted by Miss Rebeca

Main Idea

• What is it?• How do we find it?• How do we remember it?• Let’s try it.

What is main idea?

• Main idea tells what a story is mostly about.

• When looking for main idea we must think of what FINALLY happened in the story.

How do we find the main idea?

• Let’s use our hands!


• The thumb stands for who.• The who of a story is very

important, without knowing who the story is about we can’t find the main idea.


• The pointer finger stands for did what.

• What did the main character finally do?


• The middle finger stands for where.

• Where did the main character do it?


• The ring finger stands for when.

• When did the main character do it?


• The pinky stands for why.

• Why did the main character do it?

How do we remember main idea?• Remembering is easy!!!• Just look at your fingers.• Thumb - Who?• Pointer - Did what?• Middle finger - Where?• Ring finger - When?• Pinky - Why?

Let’s try it!!

• Using the book Too Many Tamales and our five fingers let’s find the main idea.

• Remember to think about the word FINALLY.

• What finally happened in the story?

Too Many Tamales

•Who?•Maria and her cousins.

Too Many Tamales

•Did what?

•Ate all the tamales.

Too Many Tamales

•Where?•In the kitchen.

Too Many Tamales

•When?•On Christmas day.

Too Many Tamales

•Why?•To try to find Maria’s mother’s ring.

Too Many Tamales

• Using all the information, write one sentence that tells the main idea of the story.

•Maria and her cousins ate all the tamales on Christmas, in the kitchen, because she was trying to find her mother’s ring that she had lost.

Fair Use Guidelines

• Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S.Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the educational fair use guidelines.

main idea

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