A Scaffolded Approach to Helping Students Sort Main Idea and Details. Promote high-quality instruction with this teacher-developed, scaffolded resource for reading comprehension. Enhance students' confidence, promote independent learning, and assist students to reach proficiency in grade-level targets with included scaffolding such as real photography visual aids, grouping symbols, visual organizers, color-coding and self-checking elements. Distinguishing the main idea and supporting details is important to comprehension development, critical thinking, and writing skills. Using the two-sided mat and picture cards, students take turns reading an assortment of related statements, determining the main idea, and supporting details, and then sorting them into those two categories. Next, students use a favorite subset of cards or their own idea to write a paragraph. Students will become mindful of main idea and supporting detail concept and verbiage in their reading, writing, speaking, and listening, especially while working in partnerships.