Two Main Ideas: Read and Summarize

5th Grade ELAInformational Text4 pages

About this worksheet

The Venus flytrap grows in the nitrogen-poor bogs of North and South Carolina, and the two-paragraph passage on this 4-page sheet explains how it catches insects to survive. Students find the main idea of each of the two paragraphs, give supporting details, work out the meaning of carnivorous, and explain why the trap waits for two hairs. They finish with a 3 to 4 sentence summary that leaves out minor details. The sheet targets 5th grade RI.5.2, and the answer key has a model summary.

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Two Main Ideas: Read and Summarize: Informational Text - page 1

Two Main Ideas: Read and Summarize: Informational Text - page 2

Two Main Ideas: Read and Summarize: Informational Text - page 3

Two Main Ideas: Read and Summarize: Informational Text - page 4

Curriculum objectives covered

RI.5.2

“Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.”

Questions 1 to 4 find two main ideas and their details, and Question 7 puts them together in a summary.

What's inside this worksheet

The Plant That Bites Back

Two paragraphs. The first explains the poor soil and the plant's meat-eating adaptation. The second, "A Clever Trap," describes the two leafy halves, the sensitive hairs, and a snap in less than a second.

Finding the Two Main Ideas

Question 1 gives four choices for the first paragraph's main idea. Question 2 asks students to write the main idea of "A Clever Trap" in their own words.

Explaining Supporting Details

Question 3 asks for two details that support the first main idea. Question 4 asks which detail shows the trap is built to catch moving insects.

Digging Deeper

Question 5 asks what carnivorous means and which phrase helped. Question 6 asks why the plant waits for two hairs to be touched within twenty seconds.

Writing a Summary

Question 7 asks for a 3 to 4 sentence summary with both main ideas and no minor details, such as the state names or the twenty-second time limit.

How teachers use it

Main idea lesson

Choices A, C, and D in Question 1 are all true details. Use them to show the difference between a detail and a main idea.

Video hook

Show a short clip of a flytrap snapping shut before students read. They then read "A Clever Trap" to find out how it works.

Summary check

Students often put the twenty-second rule in their summary even though the directions say to leave it out. Have them cross out any numbers and reread.

More 5th Grade ELA worksheets

Reading Comprehension Writing Grammar and Language Vocabulary

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