Main Idea / Details Practice A Christmas Carol

Definitions – Copy and place in notes section of binder Main Idea the most important or central thought of a paragraph or larger section of text, which tells the reader what the text is about Supporting Details any item that is used to back up the main idea of a paragraph or larger section of text (fact, description, example, etc.)

Main Idea / Details Practice Write one main idea for Stave 1 and another main idea for Stave 2 in separate boxes. Label the boxes with the appropriate stave number. Make sure each main idea is a complete sentence and not vague! Under each main idea, list three supporting details from that stave. Use complete sentences for each, and be sure they SUPPORT the main idea you have listed. Then, choose a section of text from EACH stave. Copy that section of text onto your paper with the stave number and pg. number in parenthesis following it. Underneath each copied section of text, write the main idea of that specific section you copied. Again, make sure each main idea is a complete sentence.

Sample Answers Stave 1 Main Idea: Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s dead business partner, visits Scrooge to warn him he needs to change his greedy and cruel ways to avoid a terrible fate. Despite the harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another lump of coal to warm the office. Scrooge refuses to join his nephew, Fred, for a Christmas dinner. Scrooge refuses to support charities besides prisons and workhouses. He begrudgingly agrees to give Bob Cratchit a day off, but insists that he arrive at the office earlier the next day. Scrooge sees several spirits bound in chains who wail about their failure to lead honorable, caring lives and their inability to help others in need.

Sample Answers Stave 2 Main Idea: The first of the three spirits, The Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge on a journey to see previous Christmases. The ghost transports Scrooge to the countryside where he was raised. The ghost takes the sobbing Scrooge into the school where a young Ebenezer Scrooge is spending Christmas alone. Scrooge sees a little girl, his sister Fan (now dead), announce that she has come to take Ebenezer home because their father is much kinder, has given his consent for Ebenezer's return. Scrooge is taken to a party thrown by Fezziwig, the merchant with whom Scrooge apprenticed as a young man. Scrooge sees Belle who is breaking off her and Scrooge’s engagement, crying that greed has corrupted their love. Scrooge is taken to a more recent Christmas where Belle and her husband are talking about how Scrooge is alone in the world.