Sum Stuff
Alyssa Williams
Rationale: As children are starting to develop fluency they also need to begin comprehending what they are reading. It is important that children remember what they read by summarizing because this allows them to retain only the important ideas. Students will learn to summarize by mapping.
Materials: Paper, pencil, chalk, 2 Magazine articles from- National Geographic Kids Magazine/ Issues: January/February 2003 and April 2002
Articles: Avalanches: Snow that Smashes and Ghost Lions of Africa
Procedure:
Review silent reading.
"Remember that when we silent read that our voices shouldnât go louder
than a whisper." Tell the children that we are learning how to summarize
passages and that we will be shortening long passages into shorter versions
with only the important ideas remaining.
Explain and model summarization.
"When you summarize you want to:
-Find the main
points
-Delete any
small details
-Combine repeated
ideas"
Pass out copies of
the National Geographic Kids or copies of Avalanche article to each student
and have them read it silently. "I will show you how to summarize
by drawing a map. First you draw a circle and write the general idea
of the passages inside the circle." (The passage is about an avalanche
that occurred in Alaska).
What do you think
is important to remember? Explain that the main points go around the circle
and are connected to the circle by a line. (Main Points- what an
avalanche is, where it occurred, when it occurred, damage done).
Now use these points
to write a brief paragraph and this will be the summary.
Give students the article "Ghost Lions of Africa" for them to try on their own. Also pass out paper and pencil for their maps. "Read the article silently and draw a map like I did on the board to find the main points." Give them about 15 minutes to complete the task. Then on the board draw a map using the student's information. Write down every detail they say, because they will probably give you trivial details, or repeated information. (But this is okay). When the map is complete there will probably be too many details. "We have not shortened it, we made it longer. Let's erase anything that is said more than once or is not important. There, now we have summarized it."
"Now, on the bottom of your paper write a summary using the map we all helped to create."
Assessment: Teacher should collect papers to evaluate the child's comprehension of summarizing. Check for center circle with the general idea, main points connecting to the circle and a brief summary in paragraph form.
Reference:
Pressley, Michael.
Strategies That Improve Children's Memory and Comprehension of Text.
The Elementary School Journal. Volume 90, no.1. 1989.
Baker, Joanie. Reading
Genie website. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/bakerrl.html
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