Norby, have you seen
my mouse doll?
Have you seen
my barbie doll?
Have you seen
my care bear?
No, mandy.
Why do you
want them?
I want to organize
them in groups.
Guess what.
I'm doing the same thing
with words.
It doesn't
look like it.

Look.
I have these different
sentences about badgers--
what they look like,
where they live,
except they're
jumbled together.
I have to organize them
into paragraphs
and give
each paragraph a heading.
It'll help us understand
the main ideas
of what we're reading.
My main idea
is to find
my dolls and--
I think we're
about to have
another adventure.
I think you're right.

My children.
Hey, it's
my mouse doll.
Yours, is it?
I found it in 'tween worlds,
the space
between our two worlds.
My children,
you must hasten at once
to the land of mojuste.
That fiend thorzuul
is hatching an evil plot
to rule both our worlds.
Hurry, hurry!

Well?
Well?
Let's go.

Hurry, my children,
thorzuul is at it again.
Our planet is
in grave danger.
Hurry!
There is no time!
Hurry!

Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
My children,
there is no time to lose.
You must hasten
to mojuste at once.

Hurry! Hurry!

You must hurry.
I'm in grave danger.
Hurry!

Where are we?
I don't know.

From the looks
of that picture,
i'd say
thorzuul's office.
Excellent guess.
Welcome
to my humble
headquarters.
My mouse doll!
What did you do
to lexor?
The old fool.

Holy kamoly!

Not so fast.
It's my doll now.
If you want to
see it again
and you don't
want to end up
like your friend,
look in that envelope.

Now what?
Read them.

This stuff
doesn't make sense.
Exactly.
If you want to see lexor
or your doll again,
put them in order.

You have five minutes.
Ha ha ha!

It doesn't
make sense.
I know.
But I think
it's like a table
and its legs.
You don't make sense.
Remember when I was
grouping words
and you
were grouping
your dolls...

We've been spending
a lot of time
putting words into groups,
and you're all
becoming very good at grouping.
Let's use what you know
about grouping
to help you read
and understand paragraphs.
A paragraph
is about one main idea
followed
by supporting details.
The details
add to the main idea.
To help y0u understand
that better,
try to imagine that a paragraph
is like a table.

The legs
are supporting details,
and the table top
is the main idea.
The details
support the main idea,
just the way the legs
support the table top.
Now let's look
at these four sentences.
We're going to
put them in order
so that we have
one main idea
followed
by supporting details.
As you read the sentences,
see if you can find
one sentence
that tells what
the entire paragraph is about.

Have you finished reading?
Ok, did anyone
find a sentence
that tells what
the entire paragraph is about?
Jason?
I think it's
"we have two goldfish."
let's put it
in our main idea space
and test it
against the other sentences.

Does this sentence say
something about this sentence?
Angie?
Not really.
It's about
two different things,
goldfish and turtles.
Right.
So this can't be
our main idea.
Each sentence
must say something
about the main idea
sentence.
Does anyone else
have an idea
about a sentence that tells
what the entire paragraph
is about?
Norbert?
It's "we have many pets
in our classroom."
well, let's test it.

Does this sentence
say something
about this sentence
at the top?
Mary?
I think it does.
The first sentence says
we have many pets
in our classroom.
The second names a pet.
Good, mary.
This sentence is
a supporting detail of this one.
Let's look
at the next sentence
and see if it's
a supporting detail.
Jason?
I think it is
because it tells about
another pet in our classroom.
Good, jason.
So this is
a supporting detail
of our main idea,
isn't it?
How about the third sentence?
Is this a supporting detail
of this sentence?
Angie?
Yes, it tells about more pets
in the classroom.
Good, angie.
So we all agree.
This is our main idea,
and these are
the supporting details.

Let's read
our paragraph again
and see if it makes
more sense this time.
Angie,
will you read, please?
"we have many pets
in our classroom.
"we have two goldfish.
We also have
a spotted turtle."
thank you, angie.
Now our paragraph
makes more sense.
We can understand it
better.
It's almost time
to leave.
Before we go,
who can tell me
what kinds of sentences
are there in paragraphs?
There is
a main idea sentence
and supporting detail
sentences.
The main idea tells
what the paragraph is about.
The supporting details
tell about the main idea.
Very good, jason,
and all of you.
Now you know
what to look for in a paragraph.
I'm going to give you
some homework to practice this.
Take your reading books out.
On page 98,
there's a story.
I'd like you to look
for the main idea
of each paragraph,
then find
the supporting detail sentences.

Let's find
the main idea sentence.
Then we can
make this paragraph
make sense.
Let's try this one.

The second sentence
tells us something
about the first one,
but it doesn't say
what "they" are.
Let's try this one.

They're all
supporting details.
Let's tack them
right to the map.

Time's up!
What have you done
to my map?
Read 'em and weep.

Why, that's impossible!
You've got it right.
We figured out which sentence
was the main idea.
Don't forget your end
of the bargain.
You mean I have to
give back mousy?
Don't forget lexor.

Oh, he escaped
into the 'tween worlds.
Speaking of escaping...

Bye.

Home. Home.

That's it.
They've defeated me
for the last time.
It's no more
Mr. Nice guy!
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Captions copyright 1986
wisconsin educational
radio & television network
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