Super
Summarizer!!!
By: Emily Watts
Rationale: Children will learn to summarize text they are reading. This lesson will teach students how to summarize what they are reading and ultimately learn how to find meaning of what they have read.
Materials: copies of the article "Little
Gorilla
Rescue" from Ranger Rick Magazine (August 2003, Vol. 37, No. 8,
pgs. 4-8) for each student, copies of the article "Do You Know
Beetles?" from the same Ranger Rick Magazine (Oct. 2003, Vol.
37,
No. 8, pgs. 22-23) for each student, highlighter for each child,
markers,
paper, pencil, chalk.
Procedure:
1. First, review silent reading with the
class.
"Today, we are going to start with going back over silent reading. Who
remembers what this is? Right silent reading is when we read with our
eyes and
not a loud. Why do we read silently? Good, we do this because it helps
us to
understand what we are reading. There are also other things we can do
to help us
understand or comprehend what we are reading. One way is by summarizing
our
text. "Who can tell me what it means to 'summarize?" Right,
when we summarize something we retell it, stressing only the most
important
parts in order to emphasize the main idea. When you are summarizing a
text, you
must create a shorter version of what you read. This means you take out
any
information that is not important or that is repeated in the
text. Ask,
"Why is summarization important for reading? Exactly, summarizing helps
us
to better understand what we have read. Today I'm going to teach a few
basic
steps that will help you summarize your readings, and then we will
practice
summarizing text together. "
2. There are five simple steps
to
summarization. (Write steps on the board while explaining them out
loud)
Step 1: Pick out important details that are necessary to the
story.
Step 2: Pick out the less important or repeated ideas from the
story and
eliminate.
Step 3: Highlight the important
details
using keywords.
Step 4: List keywords in
the order
they appeared in the passage.
Step 5: Trim the list of key
words down to
one topic sentence.
Okay, now that I have written
the five
steps on the board, let's review them aloud and the practice using them.
3. Pass out the article
"Little
Gorilla Rescue" to each student. Then tell them to read the
article
silently to themselves. Make sure you allow enough time for each
student
to finish the article.
4. Now tell the students,
"I am
going to model for you how to summarize a paragraph using the five
simple steps
to summarization." Read the first paragraph aloud to the
students. "Now, I want you to listen for the important facts as I
read." After summarizing the paragraph, remind the students the
steps you used to create the summary. "Did you notice how I
pulled
the useful or important information, leaving behind the less important
ideas
from the story?" "Good!" "Now I will write down
some important highlights or keywords from the story in sequential
order on the
board. Then I will trim the list of key words down to one topic
sentence."
Then the teacher should read the topic sentence aloud to the
children.
5. "Now, I want you to
take
out your paper and pencils. Reread the rest of the article
silently. Use your highlighter to highlight the parts that you
think are important." Provide a
sufficient amount of
time for each student to finish.
6. "Now, I want you to write a summary of the rest of the article you
just
read. Remember to use the "five steps to summarization".
Make sure to only write the parts that you think are important and
don't forget
to put it in your own words."
7. While the children are summarizing the article, walk around the
class and
observe each child's summary. Comment about the summaries and
provide
help if needed.
8. Assessment: "Now, I want you to take out another piece of paper and
your pencils." Give each student a copy of the article "Do You
Know Beetles?" from the same Ranger Rick Magazine (Oct. 2003,
Vol.
37, No. 8, pgs. 22-23). "I want you to read this article and
summarize it as best as you can. Remember to use the five steps
we talked
about. You may refer to the board where the five steps are listed
in case
you have forgotten." Allow them to summarize the story on their
own.
The students will then turn in a summarization of the article to the
teacher. The teacher will read each one making sure every child
knows how
to summarize a story by using the checklist below.
Redundant information was
taken out:
O
Yes O No
Trivial information was taken out:
O Yes O No
There are only main points in the
summarization:
O Yes
O No
Refernces:
Pressley, M., C.J. Johnson, S. Symons, J.A. McGoldrick,
and J.A. Kurity (1989) Strategies that
Improve
Children's Memory and Comprehension of Text. The Elementary School
Journal,
90, 3-32.
"Little Gorilla Rescue"
from Ranger Rick Magazine (August 2003, Vol. 37, No. 8, pgs.
4-8)
"Do You Know Beetles?"
from the same Ranger Rick Magazine (Oct. 2003, Vol. 37, No. 8,
pgs.
22-23).
www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/kstarr.html
www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/branum.html