Support your students in building strong comprehension strategies with our Main Idea: General Comprehension Worksheets! This versatile set of templates is designed to help students identify the main idea of any text or text type, while encouraging them to use their prior knowledge (schema) to deepen understanding and synthesise information across reading experiences.   Each worksheet guides students through a structured thinking process - predicting the main idea before reading, identifying key words during reading, and comparing predictions to final conclusions. Students are prompted to reflect on what they already know about the topic and how their knowledge connects to the new information in the text. This approach supports metacognition and helps students actively engage with content while reading.   Main Idea: General Comprehension Worksheets can be used flexibly across any fiction or non-fiction text, making them ideal for guided reading sessions, comprehension groups, whole-class modelling or independent tasks. With a choice of blank, 12mm and 9mm lined versions, the resource can be adapted to suit a range of year levels and writing abilities. Editable versions are also included for customisation to match your literacy focus or student needs.  

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify the main idea of a text using evidence and key words
• ✅ Activate and apply prior knowledge to support comprehension
• ✅ Make and adjust predictions during reading
• ✅ Synthesise information from the text with existing knowledge
• ✅ Strengthen reading comprehension through structured thinking

 

What’s Included:

• Comprehension templates in three formats:
  • Blank for drawing or flexible use
  • 12mm lined version for younger students
  • 9mm lined version for extended responses
• Editable versions for easy text or instruction customisation
• Prompts for predicting, reading, reflecting and synthesising

 

Materials Needed:

• Printed worksheets (A4 for individual use or A3 for group work)
• Pencils or highlighters for marking key words
• Text of your choice (fiction, non-fiction or digital text)

 

How to Use:

1. Choose a text and introduce the topic to activate prior knowledge.
2. Students complete the prediction section, noting what they expect the main idea to be.
3. While reading, students highlight or record key words that support the main idea.
4. After reading, they compare their prediction with their final conclusion and reflect on what helped them change or confirm their thinking.
5. Students complete the synthesis section by combining the text with their own knowledge to create a deeper understanding.

 

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use during guided reading to scaffold main idea identification with support
• 💡 Set as independent reading tasks during literacy rotations
• 💡 Display completed templates to model comprehension strategies on your reading wall
• 💡 Pair with a graphic organiser to compare main idea and supporting details
• 💡 Include in a comprehension toolkit for use across multiple texts and units

 

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Enlarge to A3 for small group modelling or shared reading tasks
• 💛 Model thinking aloud when completing the sheet with a class text
• 💛 Use editable versions to add specific vocabulary, prompts or sentence starters
• 💛 Encourage students to revisit their initial predictions as they read to build flexibility in thinking

  Main Idea: General Comprehension Worksheets offer a clear and flexible way to teach and reinforce key comprehension strategies—perfect for building critical thinking, deeper reading and independent understanding across all year levels.