Identifying Key Details & Main Ideas

The main idea of a story is a statement that summarizes the author's point using key details from the reading. 

• True

• False

Review the details below.

• To recycle a broken umbrella with metal parts, remove the shaft, runner, stretchers, and ribs so that they can be processed with other scrap metal.
• Older electronics can often be recycled at local drop-off locations and even at some electronics stores.
• Rinsed-out metal cans can be recycled by the local sanitation department or a steel-can recycling facility.

Choose the sentence which best summarizes this information:

• Recycling will help reduce the earth's greenhouse gas effect.

• It's possible to recycle many common household items if you know how to go about it.

• Recycling is something we should all do a little more often.

Read the passage. Making Towers Bird-Friendly "The lights on tall communication towers warn pilots to avoid the towers when flying at night. Unfortunately, the steady red lights often used on towers have the opposite effect on birds: the bright beams attract and confuse them. Instead of avoiding the lights, the birds fly directly toward them, crashing into the towers or becoming entangled in power lines. Millions of birds have died this way. However, there is a solution. Unlike steady lights, flashing or blinking lights don't attract birds. In response to demands from conservation groups, the Federal Aviation Administration in 2016 began requiring communication towers in the U.S. to use blinking lights instead of steady ones." What is the main idea of the passage?

• Birds are attracted to the blinking lights on communication towers.

• The FAA and conservation groups do not get along.

• To save birds from hurting themselves, the Federal Aviation Administration has started to use blinking lights on their communication towers. 

Explain how you would work to identify the main idea of a passage.