Main Topic & Key Details
Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text, determine the focus of specific paragraphs, and explain how key details support the main idea
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text and state the focus of individual paragraphs
- Describe how specific details and facts in the text support the main idea
- Explain how events, ideas, or steps in a text are connected (e.g. cause-effect, sequence, comparison)
The lesson
A longer article has many paragraphs. Each paragraph does its own job, like explaining one part of the topic. But all the paragraphs work together to support one main idea for the whole article.
An article called 'How a Butterfly Grows' has four paragraphs. Paragraph 1 tells about the egg. Paragraph 2 tells about the caterpillar. Paragraph 3 tells about the chrysalis. Paragraph 4 tells about the adult butterfly. Each paragraph covers one step, and together they explain the whole life cycle.
The facts inside each paragraph are like clues. They back up, or support, the main idea. If a paragraph says pandas eat bamboo, sleep in trees, and climb with their paws, those details all support the idea that pandas are good climbers.
To find a paragraph's focus, read its first sentence, it usually tells you the paragraph's job. Watch for words like first, next, and because. They show how one idea connects to the next.
One article has one big idea, and each paragraph's details help support it.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.