Slim and Trim: Sum it Up!
Reading to Learn
Rationale: The ultimate goal
of reading is the reader's
comprehension. In order to comprehend text, it is necessary for
students to
learn effective strategies that they can use when they are reading
independently. Summarization is an effective, research-based
strategy
that aids children in comprehending text. In this lesson,
students will
practice silent reading and the strategy of summarizing using graphic
organizers and a checklist. After the lesson, they will be
able to
effectively comprehend text by using the summarization strategy in
their
independent reading.
Materials:
- A copy of All About Frogs by Jim
Arnosky (Scholastic Inc., New York : 2001) for every student
- A copy of One Tiny
Turtle by Nicola
Davies (Scholastic Inc., New York: 2001) for every student
- A copy of the
article Baby
Hippo Orphan Finds a Friend
by Catherine Clarke in March of 2004 from
National Geographic Kids found at
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2005/03/owen.html
-
handout copy of the graphic organizers "An Important Point" from the First Graphic Organizers:
Reading by Rhonda Graff
Silver (Scholastic, Inc., 2003) for all
students and a blown up copy of the graphic organizer laminated to
write on in
front of the class
- Copy of summary checklist for each student that
says: åÐåÐåÐ
1. Is
unimportant or repeated information left out of your summary? Yes or
no‰¥¬
2. Are important events and ideas stated? Yes or
no‰¥¬
3.
Do you have a topic sentence that states the author's main idea? Yes or
no‰¥¬
-
notebook paper and pencils for each student‰¥¬- easel or board to display
blown
up copies of graphic organizers
- dry erase board and markers‰¥¬- a yellow and
blue highlighter for each student
- column handout (3 three columns:
unimportant/repeated info, important ideas/events, author's main idea)
Procedures:
1. "When we read, the most important
thing we do is
to comprehend, or understand, what we are reading. Comprehending helps
us to
understand what is happening in a story, or to learn important
information from
text. We are going to practice summarizing today. Summarizing is a
strategy you
can use on your own to help you comprehend or understand the text you
are
reading. We will practice finding the main idea and details as we read
about
several different animals"
2. "The way we are going to read
today is
silently. Does anyone remember what silent reading is?
Silent
reading is when we read text to ourselves instead of out loud so we do
not
disturb others around us. Let me show you just as a
reminder. I am
going to read the sentences I have written on the board out loud and
then I am
going to read silently. I want you to pay close attention to the
differences. (I will read the sentences "Pizza is my favorite
food. I could eat it everyday." aloud then silently to model by
paraphrasing to show I understood what I read). Now I want you to
try. I am going to write a new sentence on the board. (write "Put
your left hand on your right shoulder." on the board). Now
everyone
read the sentence on the board silently and demonstrate what you read.
(everyone will read it silently, then show they understood by following
the
directions) Good!"
3. "When we summarize the text we are
reading there
are three things that are important to keep in mind that will be
helpful.
First, we should leave out unimportant and repeated information.
Second,
we should always state the important events and ideas. The third
thing to
remember is that we should write a topic sentence that states the
author's main
idea. The three things will help you to write a summary. So
now I
want everyone to get out your article called Baby Hippo Orphan Finds a Friend and your
blue and yellow highlighter. This article tells the story of a baby
hippo who
was left behind after flood waters in the East African country of Kenya
swept
him and his herd down the Sabaki River and into the Indian Ocean.
Most of
the hippos returned inland, however, this baby hippo did not.
Lucky for
him, rescuers found him and took him to the shelter and named him
Owen.
While in the shelter he met an unlikely friend that took everyone by
surprise. To find out about Owen's new friend you will have to
read the
article Baby
Hippo Orphan Finds a Friend. I want everyone to read
this silently then we are going to complete this graphic organizer
together and
write a class summary. As you read to yourself,
think
about what information is unimportant and repeated, what are important
events
and ideas and what is the main idea that we can make a topic sentence
out
of. You have two highlighters. If you come across any
unimportant
or repeated information I want you to highlight in blue so that we
leave it out
of our summary. With your yellow highlighter highlight what you
think are
the important events, ideas, and the author's main idea. We will
help
each after we read by going over what we should have highlighted so
everyone
can know what information to look for. Now everyone read silently
paying close
attention to the article then we will go over it together." (give
silent
reading time, then time for the class as a whole to create graphic
organizer
then use that tool to write a class summary of the article).
4. "Now we are going to read a
book. Everyone
please get out All
About Frogs. Frogs are
fun
pets. It is interesting to watch them grow from tadpoles to adult
frogs!
However it is important to know how to take care of your pet
frog. In the
book All About Frogs
you can
learn everything you need to know. Now I want everyone to read
the book
silently to yourself. I want you to use the handout I gave you
with three
columns that will help classify the three reminders about
summarizing. As
you read I want you to put repeated and unimportant information in
column 1,
important events and ideas in column 2, and when you finish try to come
up with
the author's main idea and write it in column three. I want you
to work
with your partner next to you to do this. When you finish, come
up to the
front of the room and pick up a copy of the graphic organizer we used
together
and work with your partner to complete to write a topic sentence that
states
the author's main idea in the book on the top line. Then I want
you to
fill in the lines on the fingers with important events or ideas.
You may
have found one or you may have found more. Fill in what you
have."
(give about 10 minutes, then go over answers with whole class)
6. "Now everyone get out a piece of
notebook
paper. On your own, I want you to write a paragraph that
summarizes the
book All About Frogs that
you
read silently using your two handouts you and your partner completed to
guide
your summary. Also use the summary checklist that I handed out
with the
three reminders on it. Start with a topic sentence that states
the author's
main idea. When both you and your partner are donw writing your
summaries
swap paragraphs and read each other's summary and then fill out a
checklist on
your partner. Circle yes or no beside each of the three reminders
to let
your partner know if they did it or not. "
7. "Tonight I want everyone to read the
book One Tiny Turtle at home
silently. In One Tiny Turtle you will learn about the
Loggerhead turtle while reading a story about its life.
Loggerheads swim
alone in the vastness of the water, munches on crabs, floats over coral
reefs
and crawls with slow, heavy steps across the beach to lay her
eggs. To
learn more about Loggerheads you will have to read the book One Tiny Turtle. Then
I want
you to write a paragraph summarizing the book in your reading journal
just as
we have done in class today. You can use the graphic organizer
and chart
to help as well as your summary checklist. Tomorrow I will read
your
summary and fill out a summary checklist on your paragraph to see how
you did."
Assessment:
To assess the children I will read their
summaries that they
wrote on chapter 2 and fill out a summary checklist for them and
discuss with
them the summaries they wrote. This way I will know how well they
mastered the skills required to write a summary.
References:
Arnosky, Jim. All About Frogs.
Scholastic
Inc., New York: 2001.
Campanatta, Gina. Summarize the Danger! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/connect/campanottarl.html
Clarke, Catherine. Baby Hippo Orphan Finds a Friend.
March 2004. National Geographic Kids. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2005/03/owen.html.
Davies, Nicola. One Tiny Turtle.
Scholastic,
Inc., New York: 2001.
Fleming, Nell. 1,2,3‰¥ÏA Summary. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/connect/flemingrl.html
Silver,
Rhonda Graff. First Graphic Oraganizers" Reading.
Scholastic, Inc. New York: 2003.