Let's Summarize to Comprehend
Rationale:
After children are
able to read with fluency and speed, they must begin to move on to the next step
in reading. This is the reading to learn step.
The most important
goal of reading is comprehension. Children
must be able to read and summarize all kinds of reading materials so that they
are able to learn.
In this lesson,
students will learn how to leave out useless information in text and how to
focus in on the important information.
Materials:
-Class set of the
article "Tiny Frogs Ring in Spring" by Lyssa White, National Geographic Kids.
6 April 2009.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/AnimalsNature/Spring-peepers
- Blank bookmarks
-
Colored pencils
-
Semantic chart for each student-has an area for students to label the main idea
and key ideas
- Copy of summary
checklist for each student that says:
1. Is
unimportant or repeated information left out of your summary? Yes or no
2. Are
important events and ideas stated? Yes or no
3. Do you have
a topic sentence that states the author's main idea? Yes or no
Procedures:
1."Today we are
going to talk about comprehension. Does any know what comprehension means?
When you comprehend a book or a text that you read you are understanding the
meaning of that text. A good strategy to use when comprehending text is to
summarize the text. When you summarize a book you are focusing on the main
points of the story and deleting the unimportant parts of the story."
2. "In order for
everyone to remember how to summarize a story we are going to make bookmarks." I
will write the three summarization rules on the board and tell the students to
write the rules on their bookmark and that they can decorate it however they
want. "The three steps are: 1. Delete information that is not important or is
repeated. 2. Highlight the important and necessary details by using key words or
headings. 3. Find a topic sentence that covers the main idea and if there is not
a topic sentence make one."
3. Next, the class
will read "Tiny Frogs Ring in Spring". "I want everyone to read the
article silently to themselves. For example, I am going to sit at my desk
and quietly read the article. I am not going to talk to my neighbor or
read the story out loud. So everyone find a comfortable spot and read the
article. Be sure to use your summarization rules while reading." Walk
around the room and watch kids as they read and answer any questions that might
arise.
4. Have students
finish their reading and return to their seats. "Now that everyone is finished
reading the story we are going to fill out our semantic charts. Who can
tell me what the main idea of the article was? That's right, this article was
about tiny frogs. Since Tiny frogs
is the main idea, I am going to write tiny frogs in the circle of my semantic
chart. Now, I want each of you to finish your semantic chart by writing
the key ideas or information outside of your main idea circle." I'll do one
example with them if I feel the students need it.
5. In order to
assess the students I will have them break into small groups and discuss the
events of the article. "Make sure to discuss the important and necessary details
with your group." I'll also look at their semantic charts. I will check to
make sure they have written the main idea in the center circle. I will
also check to see if they were able to summarize the story by writing key ideas
and information out of the circle.
References:
-"Tiny Frogs Ring
in Spring" by Lyssa White, National Geographic Kids. 6 April 2009.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/AnimalsNature/Spring-peepers
-"Summing it All
Up!" by Katie DeFoor
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/defoorrl.html
-"Reading to Learn"
by Brooke Erickson
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/ericksonrl.html