Rationale:

An important strategy for children to learn is to comprehend what they read.  Children must use summarization skills in order to gain a deeper knowledge about the material they are reading.  During this lesson the children will be reading an article from the National Geographic for Kids website.  Once they have read the article, they will use their comprehension skills to summarize the article through designing a story web and writing a brief summary pertaining to the material read.

Materials:

Brief paragraph written on chalk board for the children to review reading silently.
             (Last night I was very tired, so I went to sleep.  Since I went to sleep so early, I woke up early too.  As a result, I decided to fix breakfast.  I cooked pancakes, muffins, eggs, and bacon.  Once I cooked all the food I realized I was the only person to eat it, so I am very full this morning.)

One copy of äTornadoes !ä by Renee Skelton published by National Geographic Kids, paper (for each child), pencil (for each child), chalk board, chalk, and summarization checklist (one per child).

Procedure:

1. Begin by reviewing silent reading.  Last week we talked about reading silently.  Can anyone remember how to read this way?  Good job- when you read silently no one should be able to here you.  Letâs practice this strategy before we move on.  I have written a paragraph on the board.  I want you to read it, but remember we are practicing silent reading.  That means none of your friends should be able to hear you read.
(Last night I was very tired, so I went to sleep.  Since I went to sleep so early, I woke up early too.  As a result, I decided to fix breakfast.  I cooked pancakes, muffins, eggs, and bacon.  Once I cooked all the food I realized I was the only person to eat it, so I am very full this morning.)

2. Everyone did a wonderful job reading silently!  Today you are going to learn about summarizing passages.  Can anyone tell me something about the word summarizing?  Good job- it is something we do to show we understand a story.  How could you summarize an article?  Yes- you could write a paragraph about it and you could talk about it with your friends.  There are several steps to becoming successful at summarizing passages:(write these on the board)
a. Delete unimportant information
b. Delete repeated information
c. Substitute easy terms for a list of items
d. Add a series of events with an easy action term
e. Select a topic
f. Invent a topic sentence if there is not one

3. Use the steps recorded on the board to summarize the written paragraph on the board.  Letâs look at the paragraph that we read silently.  What is the first step to summarizing?  That is correct- delete all unimportant information.  Why would we take something out?  Wonderful- because the story or passage does not have to have in order for us to understand.  Why donât we take out what we do not need in the paragraph.  Mark through portions of paragraph that the children say need to be eliminated.  The next step is to delete repeated information, that means we need to take something out if it is already mentioned in the passage.  Why donât we do this to the paragraph.  Now, are there any different words we could use to replace the easy words within the paragraph?  Allow children to give their ideas and record on the board.  Good job!  Is there one word we could use to describe what the paragraph is about?  Allow children to give their ideas and record on the board.  What is a topic?  That is right- a topic is what the story is about.  Is there a topic in the paragraph?  That is right, there is a topic.  The paragraph is about breakfast.  If you could not find a topic about the paragraph, you could use all of the steps to help you decide what the topic would be.

Make a story web.  Now we are going to make a story web.  First, we are going to draw a circle and write the topic of our paragraph in the center.  We said the topic was breakfast so we will write this down.  Now, we will connect all the words we used to describe the paragraph.  What are some words we could use to describe the narrator being hungry for breakfast?  Early, morning, food, cook- Great job!

4. Today you are going to read ãTornado!ä by Renee Skelton.  While you are reading I want you to remember each step used to summarize a passage. If you would like to take notes on the article you may.  When everyone has finished I will teach you how to summarize the passage.  Remember to look for main ideas, topics, and delete information that is not needed in the passage.  Give children enough time to read the selection.

5. I would like everyone to take out your paper and pencil.  We are going to write a summary about ãTornado!ä  First, make the center of the story web.  Now, I would like you to write the topic in the center.  Next, draw five connectors around your center.  I want you to think of five parts of the article that you thought were important.  Give children enough time to complete this task.

When you write a summary it will be in paragraph form.  There needs to be four to five sentences within you summary.  Once everyone has finished, I would like you to discuss your summary with one of your neighbors.  To write a summary begin with your topic.  Then, describe the topic within the paragraph.  Allow children to experiment with this activity and observe each child.  Scaffold children if they need assistance.

6. Assessment:  Have children choose an article from the National Geographic archives on the website.  Then, have each child read article, draw a story web, and write a brief summary.  Use a rubric to score summaries based on completeness, neatness, understanding of the topic, has a story web, has a summary, and kept on task during the activity.
 

Resources:

http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings.html
 Lyndsay York  Summing it all Up
 Kara Oglesby  Fun With Summarizing

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0306/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/ws_archive_main.html

Pressley, Michael. Strategies That Improve Children's Memory and 99/
.3Comprehension of Text.  The Elementary SchoolJournal Volume 90, Number 1.
Pages 3-32. 1989.