Terra Cotta Warriors: Main Idea Detectives

Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Finding Main Ideas and Supporting Details Through Ancient Chinese History

What Makes a Good Detective?

Looks for important clues Pays attention to details Asks the right questions Puts clues together to solve the mystery

Detective Challenge

What do you think we might discover about the Terra Cotta Warriors? What questions should a good reading detective ask?

The Discovery Timeline

Main Idea Detective Strategy

The main idea is the most important point Supporting details give more information about the main idea Ask: 'What is this mostly about?' Look for repeated words or concepts

Practice with Terra Cotta Facts

Read this passage about the Terra Cotta Army Identify the main idea Find three supporting details Share your detective findings with a partner

Detective Findings: Main Idea vs. Supporting Details

{"left":"The Terra Cotta Army was created to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife\nOver 8,000 life-sized warrior statues were buried\nEach warrior has unique facial features and expressions","right":"The army includes horses, chariots, and weapons\nIt took over 700,000 workers to create the army"}

Amazing Terra Cotta Warrior Facts

Each warrior is about 6 feet tall No two faces are exactly alike Originally painted in bright colors Weapons were real and functional Took 38 years to complete

Detective Challenge #2

Based on all our clues, what can we conclude about Emperor Qin Shi Huang? What do the Terra Cotta Warriors tell us about ancient Chinese beliefs?

Main Idea Detectives: Mission Complete!

We learned to identify main ideas and supporting details The Terra Cotta Army protects Emperor Qin Shi Huang (main idea) Amazing facts about the warriors are supporting details Good detectives ask questions and look for clues Practice makes us better reading detectives!