Main Idea and Supporting Details

Grade 4 Reading Worksheet

Read the text. Circle the answer to each question.

1. Read this first

   How Bees Make Honey

   Honey starts as nectar, a sweet juice inside flowers. A worker bee sips the nectar with her long tongue. She stores it in a special honey stomach and flies back to the hive.

   At the hive, the bee passes the nectar to other workers. They chew it and spread it into wax cells. Fanning wings dry the nectar until it thickens into honey.

   Bees seal each full cell with a wax lid. The honey keeps there as food for winter, when no flowers bloom. One hive can store enough to feed thousands of bees for months.

2. 1.

   What is the main idea of the whole text?

   • Bees sting people.
   • Bees make honey.
   • Bees build hives.
   • Bees like flowers.
3. 2.

   What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

   • Bees fly home.
   • Bees dry nectar.
   • Bees get nectar.
   • Bees seal cells.
4. 3.

   Which detail supports the main idea of paragraph 1?

   • Wax lids seal cells.
   • Wings dry nectar.
   • A bee sips nectar.
   • Workers chew it.
5. 4.

   What is the main idea of paragraph 2?

   • Bees get nectar.
   • Bees seal cells.
   • Workers make honey.
   • Bees fly far.
6. 5.

   Which detail supports the main idea of paragraph 2?

   • Hives get cold.
   • Wax lids seal cells.
   • Wings dry nectar.
   • A bee sips nectar.
7. 6.

   What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

   • Honey feeds bees.
   • Bees get nectar.
   • Bees dry nectar.
   • Bees wake early.
8. 7.

   Which detail supports the main idea of paragraph 3?

   • One hive feeds many.
   • A bee sips nectar.
   • Wings dry nectar.
   • Workers chew it.
9. 8.

   Which detail does not belong in this text?

   • Ants dig tunnels.
   • A bee sips nectar.
   • One hive feeds many.
   • Wings dry nectar.