Main Idea
What is the Main Idea?
What the author wants you to know about the writing. What the writing is about.
Main idea is like the __________ pizza, while the details are the ________ of the pizza.
whole; toppings
What are 3 ways you can identify Main Idea?
2. Use the details to help you identify the main idea.
3. Don't get stuck in the details.
What is the Main Idea
Before you put on that skeleton costume and rove door-to-door pandering for candy, take a minute to reflect on this tradition. Halloween is believed to have come from an ancient Celtic festival dating back some 2,000 years. November 1st was the Celtic New Year and marked the end of summer to the Celts. They celebrated on its eve by wearing costumes made of animal skins and dancing around bon fires. Over the next two millennia, this primitive celebration grew to be the candy fueled costume ball that we know today
The Origins of Halloween.
What is the main idea?
A penny for your thoughts? If it’s a 1943 copper penny, it could be worth as much as fifty thousand dollars. In 1943, most pennies were made out of steel since copper was needed for World War II, so the 1943 copper penny is ultra-rare. Another rarity is the 1955 double die penny. These pennies were mistakenly double stamped, so they have overlapping dates and letters. If it’s uncirculated, it’d easily fetch $25,000 at an auction. Now that’s a pretty penny
Rare and valuable pennies
What is the main idea?
Screech! When a driver pushes on the brake pedal, it initiates a process that causes the vehicle to stop in motion. We literally trust braking systems with our lives every time we get into a vehicle or cross at a busy intersection. How does this life-critical process work? It begins when the pedal is pushed. At this moment brake fluid is released into the braking mechanisms. As the fluid collects, this creates a leverage, which causes a friction to be applied. This friction will create a force that will cause the wheels to stop and allow you to reach your destination safely. Beep! Beep!
A description of how braking system functions in a car.
What is the main idea?
What’s dressed in all black, practices stealth, and is a master of espionage, sabotage, and assassination? You guessed it: it’s a ninja! Perhaps the only thing more elusive than a ninja is the source of the word ninja. In Japan ninja are more often referred to as shinobi. The word shinobi, short for shinobi-no-mono, means “to steal away.” The word shinobi appears in poems as far back as the eighth century. So how did this word become ninja? Some believe that during the Edo period in Japan, the word shinobi-no-mono was transformed to the very similar word ninja. This probably happened because it was a lot quicker and easier to just say ninja. It is difficult to see how such a transformation could have occurred when we look at the words using our alphabet, but if you look at the kanji representing these words, it may make more sense to you. This is how you write shinobi-no-mono: 忍の者. And this is how you write ninja:忍者. Now do you see the similarities?
The mysterious origins of the word ninja.
What is the Main Idea
It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year. Brach’s, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end. That’s a lot of candy corn, but that’s nothing compared to the production of Tootsie Rolls. Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day! But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry’s staple product: chocolate. Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year. Now that’s a mouthful!
How much popular candies are produced each year.
What is the Main idea?
Yellowstone National Park is mainly located in Wyoming, although three percent is located in the state of Montana. The Continental Divide of North America runs diagonally through the southwestern part of the park. The park sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, which is an average elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level. This plateau is bounded on nearly all sides by mountain ranges. There are 290 waterfalls that are at least fifteen feet in the park, the highest being the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, which falls 308 feet.
A description of the physical features of Yellowstone park.
What is the main idea?
Ninjas used many different tools and weapons to get the job done. They used throwing stars, bows, and acid-spurting tubes to name a few. But the favorite weapon of most ninjas may have been the katana. The katana is a long, curved sword with a single blade and a long grip to accommodate two hands. This sword was often carried in a sheath or scabbard on the ninja's back. Though the sword was primarily used for fighting and killing, the scabbard served other purposes too. The ninja could remove the sword, angle the scabbard against a wall, and use it to climb to a higher place. Or, while stealthy negotiating their way through a dark place (such as an enemy's residence at night), ninjas may have used the scabbard as a walking stick, feeling or probing their way around objects so as not to knock into anything and alert the enemy. Perhaps the ninja's most sinister use of the scabbard was to put a mixture of red pepper, dirt, and iron shavings at the top of the scabbard. Then, when the ninja drew his sword, his opponent would be blinded. I wonder what a ninja could have done with a Swiss Army knife.
The scabbard can be used as more than just a sheath.
What is the Main Idea
There are many types of lethal venom in the animal kingdom, but perhaps no stranger carrier than the platypus. The platypus is one of few venomous mammals. Male platypus carry a venom cocktail in their ankle spurs. This venom incapacitates victims with excruciating pain. Stranger still, the platypus is the only mammal that uses electroreception. That means that the platypus uses its bill to sense the electricity produced by the muscular movements of its prey. Electroreception is a sixth sense different from seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling. Perhaps most odd, the platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young. What an odd creature indeed.
Strange and unique features of the Platypus.
What is the Main Idea?
Nikola Tesla was an inventor and physicist who is best remembered for his contributions to the AC power system and radio, but he may have also built a death ray. At a 1937 luncheon in his honor, Tesla claimed to have created a weapon that could shoot a concentrated beam of energy capable of bringing down fleets of airplanes. He further claimed to have built, demonstrated, and used this weapon. When Tesla entered negotiations with the U.S., the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to sell his device, Tesla claimed that one of these parties had sent people to break into his room and steal his invention, but that this theft was impossible since the blueprint for the weapon was entirely in his mind. Unfortunately, Tesla died with the blueprint in his mind before anyone could get one. On second thought, maybe that’s not such a bad thing
Tesla may have built the death ray but he died before he completed it.