Download The Best Main Idea Anchor Charts In An Instant

Understanding the main idea of a story is the first step students make to develop reading comprehension. Main ideas can be difficult for teachers to explain and for students to grasp, especially in early grades. A main idea anchor chart helps you get key details across, and students have something they can refer back to at all times. 

Main Idea And Details Anchor Chart—Ideas

The way you approach your central idea anchor chart largely depends on the story you’re going over and the grade you’re teaching. Try to use an anchor chart that’s visually stimulating and helps students put the story into context. 

You can choose different designs depending on the number of supporting details you want to highlight. The common designs include:

• Stool
• Rainbow
• Flower pot
• Clouds
• Octopus

You can also try it as an exercise to get your students to design an anchor chart on their own. This will make your lessons interactive, and the students will remember information more easily if they put effort into creating a chart.

How To Find the Main Idea Anchor Chart

You can combine a main topic anchor chart with a ‘how to find the main idea’ anchor chart. You can use the second as a to-do list or a reminder of the steps your students need to take to identify the main idea. Then, they can fill the key details in the empty main topic anchor chart.

A ‘how to find the main idea’ anchor chart should consist of three segments:

1. Before reading—Try to guess what the story might be about by its title and style of paragraphs and narration used
2. During reading—Identify repeated information; focus on topic sentences and headings
3. After reading—Think about the most important idea (or piece of information) and how the author feels about it

Finding a Main Idea Anchor Chart Online—Use Teach Simple

Looking for the main idea and supporting details anchor charts that you can incorporate into  your lessons to avoid the hassle of making your own? Teach Simple offers thousands of anchor charts that are made by qualified, experienced teachers, who know how to approach students of various learning abilities.

Sign up for Teach Simple and get a free trial during which you can make unlimited downloads of all materials that catch your eye, from lesson plans and worksheets to ebooks and games.

Check out our list of top 15 main idea anchor charts you can find on Teach Simple:

1. Main Idea Anchor Chart
2. Main Idea Graphic Organizers
3. The First 21 Days | Day 13: Main Idea | Reading Instruction
4. Main Idea Worksheet
5. Main Idea and Details Activities: Molly Pitcher Biography | Nonfiction Passage with Questions
6. Anchor Charts Professional Development
7. Main Idea Graphic Organizer
8. Main Idea and Three Details Graphic Organizer Worksheet
9. Main Idea and Four Supporting Details Graphic Organizer Worksheet
10. Main Idea Hand Graphic Organizer
11. Main Idea Cloud Graphic Organizer
12. Main Idea and Details Activities: The Story of Mulan | Fiction Passage with Questions
13. Main Idea Octopus Graphic Organizer
14. Main Idea Banana Graphic Organizer
15. Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer