Rationale:
Comprehension is what we want our students to do when they are reading
to learn. Helping
children
summarize text is a good way to help them start
comprehending text. This lesson is designed to help children summarize
what they are reading so that they
understand the meaning or important stuff from the
lesson. Summarizing helps students remember the important parts of
text.. Materials:
Scholastic News Article from November 4, 2005 “Grand Canyon Skywalk”,
one for each child.
Chart defining how to summarize the article
Start by deleting unnecessary info
delete repeating info
Write series of events using important information
Paper and pencils for each student Procedures:
1.Begin
lesson by giving each student a copy of “Grand Canyon Skywalk” 11/4/05,
A Scholastic News Article. GO AHEAD AND BEGIN READING THIS ARTICLE. BUT
I WANT YOU TO KEEP IN MIND WHAT IS IMPORTANT AND IF YOU HAVE TO READ
SOMETHING TWICE TO GRASP THE TRUE MEANING THEN GO AHEAD AND REREAD IT.
2.ONCE
YOU HAVE FINISHED READING I WANT YOU TO MARK THE PLACE YOU LEFT OFF
READING WITH YOUR BOOKMARK AND TURN OVER YOUR PAPER.
3.NEXT
WE ARE GOING TO PRACTICE SUMMARIZING WHAT WE HAVE JUST READ SO THAT WE
HAVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS WE JUST READ ABOUT.
4.TO
SUMMARIZE AN ARTICLE, YOU NEED TO TRY TO FIND THE IMPORTANT, MEANINGFUL
PARTS OF THE ARTICLE
5.READ
THE CHART WITH THESE SUGGESTIONS FOR SUMMARIZING:
Start by deleting unnecessary info
delete repeating info
Write series of events that are significant to the
topic
6.IF
YOU WILL FOLLOW THE CHART AS YOU READ, IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO SUMMARIZE
WHAT YOU READ
7.NOW
STUDENTS I WANT YOU TO BREAK UP INTO GROUPS OF THREE AND USE THE CHART
TO FIND THE IMPORTANT MEANING OF THE ARTICLE. I WANT ONE OF YOU TO READ
AND THE OTHER TWO TO STOP THE READER AS YOU HEAR IMPORTANT DETAILS THAT
DEFINE THE MEANING OF THE STORY, AND I WANT THE WHOLE GROUP TO WRITE IT
DOWN.
8.IN
THE END I WANT EACH GROUP TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS WHICH WILL HELP YOU
FORM AN ACCURATE SUMMARY
1)What is the Article about?
2)Where is the article taaking place?
3)Who or what is involved in this news story?
4)Is their a problem?
9.After
each group is done bring me your summaries and we will chart everyone’s
findings.
10.To
end the assignment we will decide the best answer for each question and
write a large class summary and display that summary and all of the
group summaries on our reading bulletin board.
