Successful
Summarizers
Rationale:
As children become better and more fluent readers it is important that
they
begin to comprehend what the story is. In order to remember the main
idea of a
story, children must be able to summarize.
By the end of their elementary school years, children are
expected to
use summarizing skills. As children grow
older, it is imperative that they be able to recall information for
tests. Summarization aids in the
understanding and
remembering of information that will be useful when studying for tests. It is a skill that they must understand and
know how to use. This lesson will teach
children how to summarize after they read a story.
Materials: Paper, Pencil, Swimmy by Leo
Lionni
Scholastic, Inc.
-Deleted unimportant information
-Deleted repeated information
-Picked out important words or phrases
-Oraganized thoughts
Sumamry explains the meaning or point of the book
1.
We are going to start by
reviewing silent
reading. Who can tell me why we read
silently? Right!! We read silently so we
can understand
what we are reading. By doing this, we
can learn much new information at one time.
Today we are going to learn about summarization, which is a new
way to
understand what we are reading. Who
knows what a summary is? That is a great
point, you write a summary by picking out the main points in a story.
2.
Explain to the students that
there are six
steps to summarization. Go over the six
steps with the children.
1.
Delete important 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 sentence
6.
Invent a topic sentence if there
is not one
3.
Model
the summarization rules by reading
and Old Favorite like Swimmy by Leo Lionni and summarize the book for
them. Explain to them that summarizing
helps you remember the important facts or points that are illustrated
or talked
about in the book. Ask them questions
that scaffold thinking such as “what was the most important points
talked about
in the book?” “What texts or points can you delete?”
4.
Now divide the students into
groups of
three or four and have them read Fredrick by Leo Lionni to themselves. Once they have read the story let them talk
among their groups, each giving a summary of the book.
Once each child has given a summary of the
book, the teacher will model again for them using the summarization
rules and
skills. The teacher will give her
summary of the book asking herself question out loud to show the
students how
to use the rules. The teacher could say
I think the least important information was _____.
I would delete this section ___. I
think the topic sentence should be
____. This shows them how to organize
information and thoughts in their minds so that they will be able to
recall the
important facts or information next time.
When students begin to summarize they do not always recall the
most
important information, but usually the insignificant facts. This is why it is very important for the
teacher to model for them again, once they have had an opportunity to
practice
summarizing.
5.
Now have the students read The Hat by Jan Brett
6.
Assessment:
Have each student write a summary of the book The Hat. Once everyone has written their summary, read
them to the class (without disclosing the name of the author). This will show how most summaries are worded
differently, but show the same important facts and information. This
will also
help the teacher to see which students need extra help with
summarization. Class
you did a great job practicing with the summarization rules. We will continue to practice this so that we
will be successful summarizers!!
Reference:
Ade, Larkin. The Map of
Summarization.
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/inroads/aderl.html
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