That Really Sums it Up

That Really Sums it Up
Reading to Learn
Ginny Bell

Rationale: Children need to be able to understand what they are reading. They gain a better understanding of what they have read once they are able to summarize. This lesson will help children summarize readings and find important information in their reading.

Materials:
Pencil and Paper
Class Set of The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle (Scholastic Inc.)
Clecklist of the steps of summarization for every student.
    1. Delete unimportant information
    2. Delete repeated information
    3. Substitute easy terms for lists of terms
    4. Add a series of events with an easy action term
    5. Select a topic
    6. Invent a topic sentence if there is not one
5 sheets of butcher paper
Dry erase board and marker

Procedure:
1. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD TO REMEMBER WHAT WE HAVE READ. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW WELL EVERYONE IS DOING. SINCE YOU ALL ARE SUCH EXPERTS WE ARE GOING TO TRY SOMETHING CALLED SUMMARIZING. THIS MEANS THAT WE TAKE ALL THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF OUR READING AND PUT IT TOGETHER AGAIN. THE BEST PART IS WE GET TO FIND WHAT IS NOT IMPORTANT AND GET RID OF IT.
2. Give each student a copy of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. NOW LET ME SEE HOW WELL ALL OF YOU CAN READ THIS BOOK SILENTLY. WE ARE GOING TO ALL READ THE WHOLE BOOK. IF YOU NEED TO USE YOUR FINGER TO HELP YOU FOLLOW THE WORDS FELL FREE.
3. EVERYONE DID SUCH A GREAT JOB READING SILENTLY. NOW LETS WORK TOGETHER TO SUMMARIZE THIS BOOK. I KNOW OF SIX IMPORTANT STEPS THAT WILL HELP EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU SUMMARIZE YOUR READING. Write the steps on the board for all of them to see.
    1. Delete unimportant information
    2. Delete repeated information
    3. Substitute easy terms for lists of terms
    4. Add a series of events with an easy action term
    5. Select a topic
    6. Invent a topic sentence if there is not one
4. CAN ANYONE THINK OF A WAY WE CAN ORGANIZE OUR THOUGHTS. If children need help suggest drawing a web. SO LETS PUT ONE BIG CIRCLE IN THE MIDDLE. IN THE MIDDLE WE NEED TO PUT A FEW WORDS THAT TELL WHAT THE WHOLE THING IS ABOUT. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS? NOW OFF OF THIS CIRCLE WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SMALLER CIRCLES ABOUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE STORY. WHAT WOULD THIS BE? You can suggest that it blew over the ocean to get them going. YOU ALL SEEM TO HAVE THE HANG OF IT. NOW MAKE ONE ON YOUR PAPER AND FILL OUT SOME MORE SMALL CIRCLES. I WILL COME AROUND IF YOU NEED ANY HELP.
5. Then I will split them up into groups and have them combine all of their story webs into one big web. Pass out the butcher paper.
6. Once they finish their webs each group will present their web to the class. NOW THAT WE HAVE SEEN EVERYONES WEB GO BACK TO YOUR SEAT AND SEE IF YOU CAN WRITE A PARAGRAPH ABOUT THE STORY USING THE STORY MAPS. IF YOU NEED HELP WRITE A TOPIC SENTENCE USING THE BIG CIRCLE AND THEN WRITE A FEW SENTENCES USING THE SMALLER CIRCLES AROUND THE BIG CIRCLE. DON'T FORGET TO ALSO LOOK TO THE STEPS FOR SUMMARIZATION WE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE.
7. While the students work I will walk around the room and offer help to students. Once everyone finishes they will get with a partner and read the summary they wrote.

Assessment:
I will assess the students by observing them as they work through the lesson. I will look to see if they are grasping the concepts I am teaching. Also, by collecting the paragraph that they wrote I can see how effectively they were able to summarize the story. I will check their summaries with the steps of summarization for accuracy.

References:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/oglesbyrl.html (Kara Oglesby, Lesson for Teaching Summarization)

http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/yorkrl.html (Lindsey York, Summing it All Up)

Click here to return to Explorations.