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Main Ideas from What You Heard is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on pulling the main ideas out of something presented, aligned to Common Core standard SL.3.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 25 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Main Ideas from What You Heard

SL.3.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Morse Code

Morse code turns every letter into a pattern of short and long signals: dots and dashes. The commonest letters were given the shortest patterns. E is one dot. T is one dash. Q, which is rare, is dash-dash-dot-dash. Because of that choice, an average message is much shorter than it would be otherwise. A message can be sent as sound, as light, or as taps on a pipe. That is why it survived so long: it needs almost no equipment. Timing carries the meaning. A dash is three times as long as a dot. The gap between letters is three dots long, and between words, seven. SOS was chosen because it is easy to recognise: three dots, three dashes, three dots.

  1. 1. How long is a dash compared with a dot?
  2. 2. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  3. 3. What is the main idea of this text, and which details support it?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Canal Lock Works

A canal cannot run uphill. Where the land rises, engineers build a lock: a chamber with a gate at each end. A boat going uphill enters the lock through the lower gate. The gate closes behind it. Sluices in the upper gate are opened. Water flows in from the higher stretch of canal, and the boat rises with it. No pump is needed, because the water comes down by gravity. When the water inside matches the level above, the upper gate can be opened and the boat moves on. Going downhill, everything runs the other way: the water is let out, and the boat sinks with it.

  1. 1. What is the main idea of this text, and which details support it?
  2. 2. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  3. 3. Which gate does a boat going uphill enter through?

LessonPrint · SL.3.2 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Main Ideas from What You Heard

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Three times as long. 2. Morse code gives common letters short dot-and-dash patterns and uses timing for the gaps, so messages are short and need almost no equipment. 3. Morse turns letters into timed dots and dashes — supported by the letter lengths, the timing rules and SOS.
  2. 2.1. A lock lifts a boat between two levels — supported by the gates, the sluices and gravity. 2. A canal lock is a chamber with two gates; letting water in by gravity raises a boat to the higher level, and letting it out lowers one. 3. The lower gate.

More practice for SL.3.2

Pick out the main ideas and details from something you heard or saw.

Teaching this next? Getting the Main Ideas From Listening is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.3.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.