Sensational Summarization!

Ridey Foster

Rationale:

Comprehension can be seen as the process of using one's background knowledge and experiences along with the writer's cues to construct meaning of the text. A good way for children to gain or strengthen their comprehension skills is for them to learn to summarize what they read. Summarization is important because it lets teacher's know if their students understand the main idea behind what they are reading. In the following lesson, children will learn how to use summarization skills and be able to apply them to their everyday reading skills.

Materials:

A copy for each student of the National Geographic Article, “Mighty Oaks Recover After Hurricane Katrina.” By Catherine Clarke Fox. November 01, 2005 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2005/11/trees.html

Worksheet for each student with the following categories: Title, Main Idea, Details, Conclusion

Pocket Chart displayed on the board with following categories: Title, Main Idea, Details, Conclusion

Lined paper for each student to write up their summary of the article in their own words.

      Sentence stripes

Procedure:

1)“Today we are going to discuss what it means to summarize what we read.” “Has anyone ever heard the word summarize before?” Call on a few students to share their ideas about summarization. “That’s right!” When we summarize what we read, we are taking the main idea of what we read.” “It means after reading a passage, you are able to recognize and make meaning of the main points.” “We will be doing just that today.”

2) “The article I am passing out to you is one that I want you to read silently to yourself. While you read I want you to be thinking about what are the important points in the story.” “Then I will pass out a worksheet for you to fill out using the information you gathered from the story.”

3) “Now that everyone has had a chance to finish their reading, we are going to go through and to the work sheet as a class.” “There is a place for you to write the title of the article, which is?” “The Mighty Oaks Recover After Hurricane Katrina.” Just Below that where it says main idea and details. I would like you to get a partner and fill out the main idea and details part of the worksheet.” “When trying to decide what the main supporting details are it is important that we answer five questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?”

4) “We will now place our answers in the pocket chart as a whole group.” Who can tell me what the main idea of the story was?” “Very good!.” The main idea of the article was the devastation that the hurricane inflicted upon New Orleans large oak trees and other various trees.” “Will some one please volunteer to write that on a sentence strip for us and place it in the pocket chart under main idea.”  “Can someone think of a good supporting detail that would explain how the hurricane affected the well being of these trees?” “Yes, the roots need air and with the standing water they couldn’t breath” “What's another detail answering why this is a problem?” “That’s right, trees take in nutrients through their roots. The flood water was full of pollutants, like gasoline, that aren't good for living things.” “Can I get another volunteer to write these details on sentence strips for me and place them under details.” “That’s great can someone please read the details we have chosen that we think are most important.” “Great job.”

Assessment:

 “Now I would like you to write your own summary of the article in your own words using the information we can up with.” “Your paragraph should explain what the main idea of the article is, it should also tell the important details that you need to know to be able to understand the article. I want you to be careful not to simply copy the article, summarizations are always shorted then the article they are summarizing.”

References:

http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guides/thomasrl.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2005/11/trees.html