How Do We Sum That Up?

Reading to Learn

Rationale: A major component to fluent reading is comprehension. Comprehension of printed language is the goal behind reading with speed. We want our students to be able read fast enough to make sense of the text. To comprehend the meaning of text, students must learn strategies to be successful. If a student can read the text and then repeat the main ideas back in their own words they will achieve that desired success. This lesson will help students learn how to form a topic sentence as a form of summarization. They will accomplish this through modeling and practice.

Materials:

One copy per student of Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

Lined paper and pencils per student

White board and Markers

Rubric for assessment

Procedures:

1. Introduce lesson: TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LEARN HOW TO SUMMARIZE WHAT WE READ. I KNOW YOU HAVE SUMMARIZED BEFORE, YOU JUST DID NOT KNOW THAT WAS WHAT YOU WERE DOING. A SUMMARY OF SOMETHING IS JUST A SHORT VERSION OF IT. WHEN I TELL YOU ABOUT A BOOK I READ, I DON’T GIVE YOU EVERY DETAIL, I GIVE YOU A SUMMARY OF IT.

2. TODAY I AM GIVING YOU A NEW BOOK TO READ. THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK. JACK AND HIS LITTLE SISTER HAVE A MAJIC TREE HOUSE THAT LEADS THEM TO AN UNWATER ADVENTURE OF A LIFE TIME. THEY RUN INTO TROUBLE WHEN A GIANT OCTOPUS AND A VERY HUNGER SHARK SHOW UP. WILL THE DOPHINS SAVE THEM? YOU’LL HAVE TO READ THE BOOK TO KNOW THE REST.

3. Before they start reading, I will go over the summarization strategy. WHEN WE READ TO OUR SELF WE STILL CROSS-CHECK AND “ASK OURSELVES, DID THAT MAKE SENSE?” STOP AT THE END OF A PARAGRAPH OR AT THE END OF THE PAGE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ. IF SOMETHING WAS NOT CLEAR, GO BACK TO THAT PART AND RE-READ IT. BEFORE GOING ON THINK OF A SENTENCE THAT SUMS UP WHAT YOU JUST READ.

4. They need to understand that they should delete repeated and useless information. A LOT OF IMFROMATION WE READ IS SIMPLY TO ENTERTAIN US OR THE MAKE THE READING A MORE EXCITING. DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT THE INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO THE WHOLE STORY OR JUST EXTRA OR REAPEATED INFORMATION. I will model this for them by reading the first page of DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK. To do this I will read the first page of the story aloud and list a few review sentences on the board. To make sure that they clearly understand summarization, I will let them choose the sentence that best sums up the passage that I read aloud to them. We will then discuss what makes one sentence better than the others.

5. TAKE OUT YOUR PAPER AND PENCILS. YOU WILL READ THE REST OF CHAPTER 1 SILENTLY TO YOURSELF. THAT MEANS NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO HEAR YOU READ. YOU ARE READING IN YOUR OWN MIND.

6. WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED READING CHAPTER ONE, YOU ARE TO WRITE A SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU JUST READ. YOU NEED TO WRITE IN YOUR OWN WORDS ABOUT WHAT YOU READ.

7. For assessment, the teacher will collect all of the student’s papers to see if each student was able to pick out the important information in the chapter and correctly summarized the chapter. The teacher will have a checklist that she makes up to see that the children have hit all of the important points.

References:

Osborne, Mary Pope. Dolphins at Daybreak. Scholastic Inc., 1997.

Pressley, Michael, et. al. “Strategies That Improve Children’s Memory and Comprehension of Text.” The Elementary School Journal. The University of Chicago (1989).

Sirota, Elaine. What Did I Just Read? http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/sirotarl.html

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Rubric

Name_______________________

Main point ________

No repeated information______

Are all sentences original, not straight from the book _____

Do the sentences retell the events ____