✅ Learn key vocabulary words before reading
✅ Understand what a main idea is and how to find it
✅ Read each paragraph and find the main idea
✅ Answer Who, What, Why, Where, When, How questions
✅ Discover that not all words are needed to understand a text
These words appear in red throughout the reading. Learn them before you start!
The main idea is the most important point the author is making in a paragraph or a whole text. It answers the question: "What is this mostly about?"
Think of it like this:
Follow these steps every time you read a paragraph:
Students often confuse the main idea with a detail. Here's the difference:
After each paragraph, you'll answer questions using these question words:
Not every word in a paragraph is important for understanding!
Small words like "the," "a," "our," "in," "to," "some," and "very" can be removed and you can STILL understand the main meaning. We'll practice this with every paragraph — you'll see blacked-out words first, and you'll be surprised how much you can still understand!
What is the main idea of Paragraph A?
What happens when sugar enters our blood?
Who recommends that we cut down on sugar?
Why do we keep wanting more sugar after eating it?
What is the main idea of Paragraph B?
Who is the scientist quoted in this paragraph?
What two health problems are mentioned in this paragraph?
Where do adults suffer from high blood pressure according to this paragraph?
What is the main idea of Paragraph C?
What did our bodies learn to do with sugar?
When was storing sugar as fat helpful to humans?
Why is storing sugar as fat now a problem?
What is the main idea of Paragraph D?
What do some manufacturers add to low-fat foods to replace the taste?
Where can sugar be found in our daily meals?
Why is it misleading when foods are advertised as low in fat?
What is the main idea of Paragraph E?
Who is fighting back against sugar?
Where are facilities like walking tracks being built?
What healthier options are schools using to replace sugary desserts?
A Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction. When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood and affects the parts of our brain that make us feel good. Then the good feeling goes away, leaving us wanting more. All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect. In this way, it is in fact an addictive drug, one that doctors recommend we all cut down on.
B "It seems like every time I study an illness and trace a path to the first cause, I find my way back to sugar," says scientist Richard Johnson. One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure, and up to 347 million have diabetes. Why? "Sugar, we believe, is one of the culprits, if not the major culprit," says Johnson.
C Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar. Early humans often had very little food, so our bodies learned to be very efficient in storing sugar as fat. In this way, we had energy stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have more than enough. So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us.
D So what is the solution? It's obvious that we need to eat less sugar. The trouble is, in today's world, it's extremely difficult to avoid. From breakfast cereals to after-dinner desserts, our foods are increasingly filled with it. Some manufacturers even use sugar to replace taste in foods that are advertised as low in fat. So while the foods appear to be healthier, large amounts of sugar are often added.
E But some people are fighting back against sugar and trying to create a healthier environment. Many schools are replacing sugary desserts with healthier options, like fruit. Other schools are trying to encourage exercise by building facilities like walking tracks so students and others in the community can exercise. The battle has not yet been lost.
What is the main idea of the WHOLE reading?
Click each word to reveal its meaning. Can you remember them all?