Katie Naylor
Rationale:
People read for two main reasons: Entertainment and information.
However, neither of these things can happen if people don't understand
and comprehend what they are reading. In this lesson, we will discover
how story mapping can help us summarize the main points of a book or article
in a diagram that is easy to see and comprehend, thus helping us meet our
reading goals.
Materials:
A copy of the factual book Pigs, Pigs; informational books on several different
kinds of animals (at least one for every child); paper; pencils; marker-
or chalkboard; markers or chalk.
Procedure:
1) "Good morning, class! Today we
are going to talk about things we can do to help us understand stories
that we read so we can learn from them. Does anyone know what a main
idea is? (Allow time for answers.) That's right; a main idea
is what the story is all about. The main idea is usually just
a few words or a sentence; you might think of a title as the main idea
of a story. After finding the main idea of a story, we should look
for the parts of the story that are most important in order for us to understand
what the story is about. We are going to learn how to make a story
map today that will show us the main idea and the most important parts
of the story.
2) "I am going to read
the book Pigs, Pigs to you, and we are going to talk about what we learned
in the story. (Read Pigs, Pigs.) Let's talk about some of the
things we learned from this book. (Let the children discuss what
they learned.) Now, I'm going go to the board, and we are going to
organize the information we learned by making a story map. First,
I'm going to write the main idea in the middle and circle it. What
do you think our main idea would be? What was our story all about?
(Children will probably say "Pigs!") Yes, it was pigs. So,
I'll write Pigs in the middle and circle it. Now, what we want to
do next is think about some of the main
things we learned about pigs. I'll show you what I mean by doing
the first one. First, we learned about pigs' birth. So, I'll
draw a line from our main idea, and, at the end of the line, I'll write
birth and circle it. Now, we need to list some things we learned
about pigs' birth. For each thing we list, we'll draw a line from
birth and write and circle each thing we learned about that. I know
we learned that pigs are born live from their mother. So, I'll write
that and circle it after I draw a line from birth. Now, what are
some other things we learned about pigs' birth, how they are born, etc.?
(Continue with this topic, then move on when
they are out of answers.) Now, let's talk about another important
thing we learned about pigs and do the same thing. Can you tell me
something else we learned about pigs? Remember, give me a main topic
first; then we'll list the details. (Answers will vary, and may include
breeds, marketing, where they live, what they eat, how mothers care for
babies, etc.) (Continue until all main ideas have been covered.)
Great job, class! Now, I can look at this model, and remember all
the important facts we learned about pigs. In fact, even if a new
student came in who didn't get to hear the book being read, they could
probably look at our story map and learn just about everything we did from
the book."
3) "Now, I am going
to call you up by rows and let you each choose one of these informational
books about animals. You may choose whichever one you wish.
I want you to go back to your seat and read the book. Then, I'm going
to give you a big sheet of paper and a pencil, and I want you to make a
story map of your book like the one we made on the board. Remember
to first write the main idea, which may just be the animal you read about, then
write the most important points or things you learned, then write the details
about each one. If you need my help, just raise your hand and I'll
help you."
4) For
assessment, have the students share their story maps with the class.
Have them point to the words on their map and read them aloud. Make
sure the students have grasped the main idea, important points, and details
in a clear way, so that the audience can get the main points of the book
without having read it.
Reference: Pressley,
Michael. "Strategies That Improve Children's Memory
and Comprehension of Text."The Elementary School
Journal. Volume 90, Number 1. 1989. The
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