Rationale: It is very important for children to understand what
they are reading. Children gain a better understanding of what
they have read when they learn to summarize. During this lesson,
students will learn to summarize and pick out important points in their
reading.
Materials:
A Class set of The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle (Scholastic Inc.)
Pencil
Paper
Checklist of the steps of summarization for each student. These
steps are:
1.) Delete unimportant information
2.) Delete repeated information
3.) Substitute easy terms for lists of items
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
chalk and chalkboard for teacher use
Procedures:
1. “We have been working very hard on remembering what we read
while we have been reading. Everyone is doing a great job at
this, so now we are going to work on a way of remembering the most
important things we read. This is called summarizing. That
means we take all of the important parts and put it all together
again. We will be getting rid of the parts that are not very
important and don’t help us to understand the story in anyway. We
have also been working very hard on reading silently. Remember
how we don’t make any noise when we do this? Right, we try to
read without making any words come out of our mouth. Here, let me
show you how to do this, in case some people don’t
remember. I am going to read the first page of this book
(The Tiny Seed) and when I do that, I am going to try my best to read
it silently.” Read the first page to yourself. “Did you see
how I didn’t say any words and my eyes followed along with the words in
the book? I want you to try to remember to do this when you read
too!”
2. I will give each student a copy of The Tiny Seed by Eric
Carle. “Ok, I want to see all of you reading silently.
Let’s all read this whole book, and while you are reading I am going to
walk around the room to see if everyone is able to do it
silently. You can use your finger to help your eyes follow the
words if you need to.”
3. “O.K. Great! Now that we have all read the book
silently to ourselves, we are going to learn how to summarize it.
There are six steps that are very easy to follow and if you follow all
of these steps, you will be able to summarize.” I will write all
of the steps on the board and read them to the students as I write them.
Step 1.) Delete unimportant information
2.) Delete repeated information
3.) Substitute easy terms for lists of items
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. “Now, let’s try and use these steps to summarize the book we
just read. Sometimes, it is easiest to start with a web. Do
you remember doing one of these before? That’s right, we have
done a couple, but this time, we are going to do it while we
summarize. First, we put on big circle in the middle of the
page. In this circle, we write what the whole thing was
about. For this book, what do you think we could write? The
Tiny Seed, that is a very good topic. This is usually what are
topic sentence is going to be about. We will use that when we
write paragraphs. After we write our topic circle, we are going
to add some smaller circles around the outside of it. We will
write some of the main things that happened to the tiny seed in these
circles. What is an example of something that the seed did?
Right, it blew over the ocean. Was it high or low over the
ocean? It was low. Good! So in one of our circles, we
would write, it flew low over the ocean. Now, you try to fill in
some more circles on your own paper. Start with a middle circle,
and then add some smaller circles around the outside. I will walk
around the room and check to see if everyone is doing this write”
5. After the students finish their story maps, I will ask them to
get in groups and combine their story maps into one. They will
use a piece of butcher paper, and as a group will come up with one
giant story map. They will use each other’s ideas and try to
incorporate all of the important facts.
6. After each group has finished their story webs, the students
will return to their seats. “Each group should have one big story
web. I am going to put these story webs on the board in the front
of the room. We are going to try to write a paragraph about the
story using our story maps. Everyone should use the map that they
did with their group to work on their paragraphs. You can write a
topic sentence about the tiny seed and then write some more sentences
that support your topic sentence. Those sentences are going to be
the things you put in the smaller circles. Remember that a
paragraph has to use full sentences. Everything you write should
be a complete sentence. I will give each of you a list of the 6
steps of summarization that you can use while you are working on your
paragraphs. If you get stuck, look at your list and make sure you
are doing those steps.”
7. I will walk around the room and observe the students while
they are writing their paragraphs. I will then ask the students
to get in pairs and read their stories to each other. As they
read, their partner can check to make sure that complete sentences are
being used and that their sentences are all about The Tiny Seed.
Assessment: I will assess the students while I walk around the
classroom. I will also be collecting their paragraphs and I
should be able to determine if they were able to summarize the book
through reading their paragraphs. I will use our steps for
summarization and check off if each child uses the steps. If they
have done the steps, they will receive full credit.
