Stonehenge Summarizations
Rationale: Learning to read begins by providing students
with the tools they need to began their journey of reading. Once the foundation of reading is gained by
students they must then gain comprehension skills to understand the
meaning
behind what is being read by the student.
One strategy that is used to comprehend new text is
summarization. Students use this strategy
to pull out key
information needed to tell a complete story while throwing out any
unnecessary
information. Students can use
summarization to pull out important facts as well as expressing key
points that
an author is trying to express to readers.
This strategy can be used with any form of reading material
where
important information can be obtained by reading the text.
Materials:
Notebook paper, highlighter, and pencil for
each
student and teacher
Copies
for each student of the article Shooting Marbles, by Tiffany Chapparo
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11940
projection device
paragraph to be used as a tool to
demonstrate how to summarize:
“
(http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/story/0,6260,1583905,00.html)
Chart with summarization steps written on it:
-Step 1: thoroughly read
text and to use a device such as a highlighter or pencil to record any
important facts that we find in the text.
-Step 2: get rid of any
unnecessary information that is not important when retelling a shorter
version
or summary of the story.
-Step 3: organize the
important details taken from the story to make one main idea.
Procedure:
1)
General
discussion with
children about summarization: “Does
anyone know what it means to create a summary of something? (Student
Response) “When I think of a summary, I
think of reading over a story or article in order to pull out important
facts
found in the text. Today we are going to
learn to summarize stories that we read in order to make them
meaningful to
us. When we are able to summarize a
story, we are able to understand and comprehend the text easily.”
2)
Three
summarization
techniques: “There are three important steps we need to summarize
stories we
read. The first step we should follow is to thoroughly read text and to
use a
device such as a highlighter or pencil to record any important facts
that we
find in the text. The second step of the
process is to get rid of any unnecessary information that is not
important when
retelling a shorter version or summary of the story.
The third and final step would be to organize
the important details taken from the story to make one main idea.”
3)
Demonstrate
to students how
to summarize using a short story or
paragraph projected onto a projection screen.
Students should participate in with the process by telling the teacher
what
information is important and what information does not contribute to
telling the
story. “I am going to read this
paragraph to you. As I am reading, look
for the most important details found in this story.
We will go over them as a class. (paragraph
is read) I am going to show you the first
main point I
would use to summarize this story and I want you to help me with the
rest. (First main point: The kitten was
scared of
the dog she climed a really tall oak tree-this should be highlighted or
underlined) Now we can continue with the
rest of the details.” Students will
respond at this point until the story is summarized.
4)
Now
the students will
receive the copied article, “Ancient Stonehenge Village Unearthed”. “Please read this paragraph silently to
yourselves. As you read, refer to the
summarization steps we discussed at the beginning of this activity. Once you have read the article through once,
go back a mark out any information that does not seem to be necessary
to retell
the story. Highlight any information
that is important. When you are done
reviewing the article, pick out the highlighted information. Use these to write 1-2 sentences about the
story to sum up the entire article.”
5)
Students
demonstrate what
they know: “Once you have read the article, highlighted facts, and
written your
summary I would like for individual students to come up and highlight
an
important fact that you chose to highlight in the article.” We will go over which ones are the most
important and point out any information that is not needed as a class. Summaries will not be changed for assessment
purposes.
Assessment:
Students will turn in summaries and they will be assessed on
whether
they followed the guidelines given to complete a layout of a summary
then
whether they were able to actually write a summary that includes all
information needed to explain the story/article.
References:
Chapparo, Tiffany.
Shooting Marbles: Nasa prepares
for the next trip to the moon.
Scholastic News Online. April 10,
2007.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11940
Egan, Jill. “
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/story/0,6260,1583905,00.html
Redd, Jennifer.
“What’s the Point?”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/reddrl.html
Researchers
have uncovered a village that may have been home to the builders of
Stonehenge,
the mysterious circular stone monument in
"Clearly,
this is a place that was of enormous importance," said researcher Mike
Parker Pearson.
Homes
and Artifacts Found
The ancient houses are at a site known as
Durrington Walls, about two miles from
Eight
of the houses have been excavated, or dug up. Researchers say there may
be as
many as 25 of them. The wooden houses were square and about 14 feet
along each
side. There are signs of bed frames along the walls and of a dresser or
storage
unit. The houses also had fireplaces.
Two
of the houses were separate from the others and may have been the homes
of
community leaders. Researchers say those sites didn't have the debris
and
household trash that was found in the other homes.
Stone
tools, animal bones, arrowheads and other artifacts were found
throughout the
village site.
Shooting
Marbles
NASA prepares for the next trip
to the moon
April 10, 2007
It's not every day that you see scientists playing with marbles, but
for NASA
scientist Bill Cooke, it's a job. Cooke shoots small glass marbles at a
rate of
16,000 mph into a pile of soil that is similar to the moon's surface.
He hopes
the lessons learned from the experiment will help keep astronauts safe
when
they travel to the moon.
"We are simulating meteoroid impacts with the lunar surface," Cooke
explained.
The moon does not have an atmosphere, like the Earth does, to slow
objects
heading toward its surface. Space objects, like comets or meteors,
cause major
damage partly because they are moving so fast.
Since meteors
(space rocks) often hit the moon's surface, it can be dangerous for
astronauts.
Cooke uses marbles to try to predict how much damage the meteors
actually cause
on impact. The results will help NASA learn what precautions need to be
taken
when astronauts return to the moon.
How
It Works
To shoot the marbles, NASA uses a special gun—the Ames Vertical Gun
Range
(AVGR), located in the
Cooke uses the flash from the explosion to make different calculations.
With
these calculations, he can figure out what's happening on the moon's
surface.
The scientists use high-speed cameras and a photometer, or light meter, to record the
results.
Critical Thinking Question
Read today's news story, and
then answer the following question.
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