Reading to Remember

Reading to Remember

Reading to Learn

Rationale: The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. In order for beginning readers to reach this goal, it is important for them to learn and practice how to summarize. Summarization is when a person recalls the main ideas of a passage. In this lesson, children will work on their comprehension skills by practicing their summarizing skills. They will do this by reading two different articles, one as a class and one individually, and summarizing them.

Materials:

-article "Beelzebufo: A Giant of a Find."

-article "Malaria is Still a Problem in Africa." By Catherine Clarke Fox

-article "Your Amazing Brain" by Douglas A Richards

-article "Honey Bee Mystery" by Catherine Clarke Fox

-checklist for assessment:

Did the child:

-clearly understand the passage?

-find the topic sentence or main idea?

-recall important facts?

-eliminate information that was not very useful or that was repeated?

Procedure:

1. "Can anyone tell me why we read? (Wait for answers and write them on board) That's right, we read to enjoy a story, for entertainment, to learn new things, to figure out how to do something, these are all great answers! An important part of reading is learning how to summarize. Does anyone know what summarize means? It means that once you have finished reading a passage, you take out all of the unimportant information and details and focus on the most important parts."

2. Write important things about summarizing on the board. "There are several things we need to do when summarizing. First, we need to read the passage. Second, we need to find the author's topic sentence or main idea of the passage. Third, we need to highlight the important facts. Fourth, we need to remove information that is not very useful or that is repeated."

3. Pass out passage "Beelzebufo: A Giant of a Find." "Today, we are going to read this passage about a frog whom researchers believe was the largest frog to have ever lived. Its fossils show that it was the size of a beach ball! You'll have to read the rest of the article to find out more details about this amazing creature. Once you have finished reading, follow our guidelines written on the board to summarize the passage. Once you have written your summaries, lay your pencils down so I will know who is finished. Then we will go over them together as a class."

4. Once every student is finished, discuss their summaries as a class. Model for the students the summary you created as a teacher. Be sure to find a topic sentence, include important facts, and remove information that is not useful.

Assessment:

Print off three other articles from National Geographic Kids website.

-"Malaria is Still a Problem in Africa." By Catherine Clarke Fox

-"Your Amazing Brain" by Douglas A Richards

-"Honey Bee Mystery" by Catherine Clarke Fox

Allow the children to chose which article to read. Ask them to read the article then summarize it. Have them turn in their summaries to you. Complete the checklist for each child's summary. (Listed below)

Did the child:

-clearly understand the passage?

-find the topic sentence or main idea?

-recall important facts?

-eliminate information that was not very useful or that was repeated?

Resources:

"Beelzebufo: A Giant of a Find." National Geographic Kids. 2009. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/AnimalsNature/Beelzebufo

Daughtry, Sarah. "Super Snazzy Summaries." http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/daughtryrl.html

Fox, Catherine. "Honey Bee Mystery." National Geographic Kids. 2008. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/AnimalsNature/Honey-bee-mystery

Fox, Catherine. "Malaria is Still a Problem in Africa." National Geographic Kids. 2008. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/SpaceScience/Malaria

Richards, Douglas. "Your Amazing Brain." National Geographic Kids. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/SpaceScience/Brain

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"Beelzebufo: A Giant of a Find"

A team of researchers in Madagascar has discovered the fossil of what may be the largest frog to have ever lived. The beach-ball-size amphibian, which grew to be 16 inches (40.6 centimeters) long and weighed about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), is scientifically named Beelzebufo, or 'devil frog.'��Paleontologist David Krause of Stony Brook University in New York made the discovery and is collaborating with other scientists to determine how Beelzebufo is related to other frogs and to understand how and why they are on the island of Madagascar. Fossil frog experts Susan Evans and Marc Jones of the University College London agree that the new frog represents the first known occurrence of a fossil group in Madagascar with living relatives in South America.��"Beelzebufo appears to be a very close relative of a group of South American frogs known as 'ceratophyrines,' or 'pac-man' frogs, because of their immense mouths," said Krause.

But why wasn't Beelzebufo found in South America? "We're asking ourselves, 'What's a 'South American' frog doing half-way around the world, in Madagascar?'" said Krause. "One possibility is that there was a land connection between South America and Madagascar during [the Late Cretaceous] period." Some researchers believe that Antarctica, Madagascar, and South America may all have been connected at one time.��Beelzebufo is, without a doubt, one of the largest frogs on record and was perhaps the largest frog ever to exist. The size, appearance, and predatory nature of the frog prompted its discoverers to call it the "armored frog from hell." The name "Beelzebufo" comes from the Greek word for devil (Beelzebub) and the Latin word for toad (bufo).��Not only was the frog huge, it was powerful, had a protective shield, an extremely wide mouth and powerful jaws. These features made Beelzebufo capable of killing lizards and other small animals, perhaps even hatchling dinosaurs.��By comparison, the largest living frog today is the goliath frog of West Africa, which can be 12.5 inches (31.7 centimeters) long and weigh about 7.2 pounds (3.2 kilograms). The largest frog alive on Madagascar today is just over four inches (10.1 centimeters) long.