• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Balanced Literacy
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123 February 16, 2020  •  14 Comments

Main idea task cards

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Finding the main idea isn’t always the most fun skill to practice – but your students will love the engaging main idea passages on this set of free task cards!

Main idea has got to be one of the most difficult reading skills to teach.

But it’s oh, so important.

We want our readers to be able to understand the “big idea” from a text.

What do they need to remember?

What is essential and what is nonessential?

Main idea is definitely a tricky concept to teach, so I made these main idea task cards for members of The Measured Mom Plus. And today I’m sharing the file with you … for free!

The file comes with 24 task cards. Each card has an engaging passage about a particular animal.

When I used the activity with my second grader, we used the simpler answer sheet.

After reading each task card, he chose the main idea from the three choices on the answer sheet.

I helped him see that, sometimes, the main idea is directly stated in the paragraph.

Other times, we need to infer the main idea based on the details.

My fourth grader (who informed me that he has a hard time with main idea), had the more difficult task. Instead of choosing from a list of main ideas, he had to write them on his own.

We worked on this together, and finding the main idea wasn’t easy for him.

He often came up with a main idea that was much too specific. Together we looked at the sentences in the paragraph to make sure they all supported his main idea. If not, we knew we needed something different.

Here are some tips for teaching main idea:

  • Reminder your learners that they are looking for the “big idea” that the text is about.
  • The details should point to the main idea. After a learner has named the main idea (whether correct or incorrect), ask more questions. “What are the details which support that main idea?”
  • Sometimes learners can get too specific with the main idea; help them see that a main idea is more of a general statement.
  • Teach your learners that the main idea may or may not be explicitly stated as a topic sentence. This sentence can be anywhere within the paragraph.
  • When looking for the main idea, learners can ask themselves:
    • What’s important here?
    • What big idea does the author want me to remember?
    • What is the most important point about the topic?

I hope you enjoy these free task cards!

Get your free Main Idea Tasks Cards!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

MEMBERS GET MORE!

Like these task cards? Then you’ll love The Measured Mom Plus! Members enjoy new reading comprehension printables each month, in addition to mini-workshops and no-print resources. Not a member yet? Learn more here.

CHECK OUT ALL THE READING COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES IN THE MEMBERSHIP

WATCH THE MEMBER TRAINING

As our learners begin to use science and social studies textbooks, they have a new challenge: understanding them!

Often we tell our students to read the pages and answer the questions. But they need more than an assignment; they need teaching.

In this 34-minute training, members will watch these five simple (yet powerful!) strategies in action.

  • Preview the text
  • Word predicting
  • Read, cover, remember, retell
  • Write your own test questions
  • Fact or fiction?

Not a member yet? Learn more here.

CLICK TO WATCH THE MEMBER WORKSHOP

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Filed Under: Reading, Comprehension Tagged With: second grade, third grade

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Phonics books for r-controlled vowelsRhyming clip cardsPrintable leveled book list
Answers to YOUR questions about shared reading
10 Tips for teaching writing in kindergarten

Reader Interactions

14 Comments

  1. Ann-Marie

    February 16, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    It feels like you are in my classroom lol. Working on Main Idea with my Grade 2’s and 4’s. Thanks so much for this! Really appreciate themeasuredmom?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 17, 2020 at 6:33 am

      Yay – I’m so glad this was good timing for you, Ann-Marie! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  2. Neroshni

    February 17, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    Thank you this is excellent for our reading time activity tables.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 22, 2020 at 6:56 am

      I’m so glad to hear it, Neroshni!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Ruchika Adiani

    February 18, 2020 at 12:17 am

    Thank you sooo… much. All your worksheets are truly amazing. They are extremely helpful for all my students from Pre-K to 2nd graders.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 22, 2020 at 6:57 am

      Thank you, Ruchika!

      Reply to this comment
  4. Trace

    February 18, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    I. Love. These!!
    Perfect for my grade 2 friends!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 22, 2020 at 6:57 am

      Yay – I’m so glad you can use them, Trace!

      Reply to this comment
  5. Salvacion

    February 20, 2020 at 5:45 am

    Thank you so much for the frebbies you are giving to us… It really helped a lot for me and for my pupils.. God bless you and more power.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 22, 2020 at 6:57 am

      This is great to hear, Salvacion!

      Reply to this comment
  6. Sarah

    February 21, 2020 at 8:36 pm

    The material is so very helpful, excellent. It assists me a lot and make my work very easy and enjoyable. You are the best, Thank you!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 22, 2020 at 6:57 am

      Thank you so much for the feedback, Sarah! :))

      Reply to this comment
  7. Anna

    May 4, 2020 at 7:56 am

    Thanks for the free educational material. It really helps me and made my teaching so much easy. I’m from Namibia in Africa. Clearly explained. Thanks a lot.

    Reply to this comment
  8. Taeyeon

    May 20, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    Thank you so much!!!

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Shop these popular reading resources!

Editable Seasonal Sight Word Game – MEGA PACK!

$24.00

Phonics Books & Games – Complete Set

$49.00

Reading response sheets & Early chapter book lists

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • The 3 Keys to teaching phonological awareness
  • 5 Important things you may not know about phonological awareness
  • How to meet every writer’s needs during writing workshop
More Episodes

Join the conversation over on Facebook! We have three separate groups for Pre-K through grade 3.

Join Facebook Group

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2021 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs