Rationale:  Summarizing is a very important skill for students to master.  It is a strategy that helps them understand and remember text that they have read.  It helps to ensure comprehension.  Making maps is just one way to summarize a passage.  In this lesson the students will learn to summarize by making maps of what they have read.

Materials: paper, pencil, Ranger Rick with the article “Penguins at the Beach” for each child, Time for Kids with the article “Who killed King Tut?” for each child.

Procedure:
1. “The first thing we are going to do today is to practice silent reading.  I would like everyone to find the article “Penguins at the Beach” in their Ranger Rick.  I would like everyone to read this article silently to themselves.  When you are done you may put your article down and put your eyes on me so that I will know you are done reading”\
2. Next I will explain to them what summarizing is and why it is important.  “Summarizing is when you take out the main ideas of a passage and the important details and leave the extra stuff behind.  Has anyone ever summarized before?”  Then I will explain that summarizing is important because it helps us understand and remember what we read.  “One way to summarize is to make a map of what you read, and that is what we are going to do today”
3. First I want everyone to write the title of our article in the center of the page and draw a square around it. (model on the board)
4. “Next I would like someone to give me one main idea from the article.  Write the main idea on your paper and circle it, then draw a line to connect it to the title.  If there are any important details to support this main idea then write them, draw a circle around them and then connect them to the main idea with a line.” Finish the map of the article as a whole class, modeling on the board the whole time.

Assessment:  For assessment have the students work in partners to make a map of the article “Who killed King Tut” from their Time for Kids magazine.  Make sure the students understand summary mapping by grading their maps.

References:
1. “It’s Safer to Summarize”, by Ashley Nungesser
  www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/nungesserrl.html
2. Evans, Nancy.  “Penguins at the Beach”  Ranger Rick.  January 2002.  National Wildlife Federation. p. 18-20
3. “Who Killed King Tut” Time for Kids.  November 2002.

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