Summarizing

Lindsey Barrett

Rationale: Once students learn how to read, they can then read to learn. To do this, students need to learn how to comprehend what they are reading. For a beginning reader to reach this goal, it is necessary to learn and practice summarization. This lesson will teach students the steps of summarization and allow them to practice these steps using resources.

Materials:

Overhead projector, pen, and highlighter tape

National Geographic article Tiny Frogs Ring in Spring transparency and copy for each student (found below)

Paper, pencil and highlighter for each student

Poster with summarization steps: 1. Highlight important details 2. Scratch out repeated or unimportant details 3. Organize important parts by summarizing what you have learned

Summarization checklist for each student (found below)

Procedure:

1. Introduce the lesson by discussing comprehension and summarization. "Does anyone know what it is called when you understand what you are reading? It's called comprehending. If you understand what you are reading, then you comprehend it. Today we are going to learn a strategy to help us comprehend or understand what we read. This strategy is called summarization. Summarization is picking out the most important information out of a book or text that you are reading. You try not to worry the small details, but rather the main points of a selection. We are going to work on this together!"

2. The teacher will have a poster made listing the steps to summarization and explain to the class. " These are the three steps to summarize. First, you pick out all the important details.  Second, you find details that are repeated or that are not important to the text and get rid of them.  Third, you organize the important parts and lastly make a main idea to summarize what you have learned."

3. "Now we are going to work together on summarizing the first paragraph of an article from National Geographic about frogs. These frogs are not like other frogs. They are very special. Let's read the first paragraph together and see if we can find some of the reasons that they are so special. Pass out copies of the National Geographic article Tiny Frogs Ring in Spring and allow the student's time to read it silently. Once the students have read the first paragraph of the article silently, read the paragraph aloud. Model on the overhead how to summarize using the 3 steps for summarization and encourage the students to follow along. "First we need to highlight the important information. Does anyone see something important? Yes, it is important to know that the frogs are called Spring Peepers. We need to highlight that! Do you see any others? What about any thing that we do not need or that is repeated? We could probably cross out the part that repeats that the frogs come out in spring. Lets cross those out by drawing a line through them with our pencil. Ok, now that I have done my two steps I can now summarize with the important information I have left! There are little frogs called spring peepers that live in Canada and The United States. They are rarely seen, but you can hear them making peep noises at the beginning of spring. That's a great summary of the first paragraph!"

4. Assessment: Once the students have had enough practice working together as a class summarizing the first paragraph in the article. The students will try summarizing on their own. Give them the opportunity to finish summarizing the rest of the article on their own. "Now that you have practiced with me I want you to finish summarizing the rest of the article on your own. Remember to show the important information with your highlighter and cross out the unimportant or repeated imformation with your pencil and then write your summary. Does anyone have any questions?" Once the students are finished collect their work and score using the following checklist:

References:

Frog Article: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/AnimalsNature/Spring-peepers

So What Did I Read by Cassie Dillard: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/dillardrl.html

Return to Realizations