Identifying Main Idea

This worksheet helps students in Grades 3 and 4 build strong nonfiction reading comprehension skills by identifying the main idea and supporting details of an informational passage. Learners read a text about koalas and determine the central idea, then answer questions that focus on key supporting facts such as diet, habitat, and sleep habits.

Learning Goals

• Determining Main Idea (Grades 3-4)
  Students identify the most important idea the passage is mostly about.
• Recognizing Supporting Details
  Learners distinguish specific facts that explain or support the main idea.
• Nonfiction Reading Comprehension
  Students practice understanding informational text features and content.
• Summarizing Informational Content
  The activity reinforces how main ideas and details work together to form a summary.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource
  Designed by educators to align with elementary ELA standards for informational reading.
• Clear Skill Focus
  Step-by-step questions guide students from central idea to detail recall.
• Science Connection
  Uses an engaging animal topic to support cross-curricular learning.
• Flexible Classroom Use
  Ideal for guided reading, independent practice, homework, assessment, or review.

This printable worksheet helps students become more confident nonfiction readers by teaching them how to identify what a text is mostly about and which details matter most. By focusing on main idea and supporting facts, learners strengthen comprehension, summarization, and information-processing skills. It’s a simple, no-prep resource that works well in both classroom instruction and homeschool learning.

This worksheet is part of our Asking and Answering Questions Worksheets collection.