Reading to Learn | earlychildeducation

Swallowing Up Summarization!

Reading to Learn

Rationale:

Summarization is one of the two most powerful strategies for comprehending text. The objective of this lesson is to teach readers how to read to learn. Comprehension is the last vital step in a student’s reading development. When a student reads for comprehension, he or she is no longer decoding words, but instead focusing on the semantics of the text. In this lesson, students will practice summarization as a comprehension strategy. Students will also learn how to identify important concepts and key details from the passages they read while learning to eliminate trivial information through modeling, guided practice, and individual practice.

Materials: Smart Board/ White Board, markers, individual copies of National Geographic articles written for kids on King Cobra snakes (URL below), paper, pencils, and a summary checklist.

Procedures:

Say: “We all want to be good readers, right? Well, we know that good readers are fluent, but did you know that in addition to reading fluency, that good readers need to understand what they read?” Today we will be learning how to summarize a block of text to ensure that you understand the text that you read. Can anyone tell me what it means to make a summary? (Call on different students to share answers) Right! Summarizing means to read a passage and take the important ideas out to make it smaller. Summarizing is very helpful because it is very hard to remember a lot of words in a passage that you can read, and so when you summarize you can just get the main idea and create a summary to help you remember what you read. We will practice summarizing together and then you will try some on your own.

Say: “Now we are going to talk about some rules that we need to use to help us when we are writing summaries. First, we need to delete any irrelevant information. Second, we need to read through and delete any redundant information. Thirdly, we need to replace lists of items with easier terms, and select or invent a topic sentence with which to begin our summary. We are going to practice with these rules by reading different paragraphs together, and then, you are going to practice on your own with an article on the King Cobra snake.”

In the article that we are about to read, you might come across some vocabulary that you may not know. For example, the word territorial can be used to describe animals or people that try to keep others away from an area that they use or control. The King Cobra was very territorial against other snakes to protect his home. [Ask students a question] Would a bear be territorial if he allows another bear to enter his cave? [Ask students to write their own sentence using the word “territorial”]. While you are reading, I want you to underline the words that you have never seen before and we will go over them as a class so that everyone can have a better understanding of this new vocabulary.

Say: “Okay, now we are going to look at a paragraph together. I will put it on the board so that everyone can see it as we read along together. [Write paragraph on board] As I am reading this passage, I am going to model how to cross out irrelevant details, underline important details, and pick out a topic sentence. Make sure you pay close attention so that you will know what to do when it is your turn to do this!”

Paragraph: A hurricane lands in Alabama on April 12. The hurricane wreaked havoc on a metropolitan city on a Tuesday night. The storm killed one person, injured ten, and ripped trees up completely from the ground. The hurricane landed around 8 p.m. and destroyed 15 to 20 homes in Auburn, AL, according to a press statement from the Lee County Mayor’s office. Ten of the 50 residents were taken to hospitals after the storm hit. All homes were evacuated and power was out across the area. The Red Cross and Salvation Army established a shelter at a high school.

As I was reading, I underlined April 12, because I know that this is important because it is the date that the hurricane hit the city. I underlined where there articles said 1 person died and 10 were injured because it is an important fact. I crossed out where it said trees were completely ripped from the ground, because this is just a detail of the destruction caused by the hurricane. I underlined Auburn, AL, because this is the name of the city hit by the hurricane. I crossed out everything after the city’s name, because it isn’t important for my summary. Now, I have a summary of the paragraph!

Summary: A hurricane hit the city of Auburn, AL on April 12 resulting in 1 death and 10 injuries.

Say: “Let’s try summarizing a paragraph together. I am going to put up another paragraph and this time, I want you to tell me what information to underline, cross out, or replace.” [Put paragraph on board]

Paragraph: The mountain lion used to be found all over the United States, but now is primarily seen in the western U.S. An endangered subspecies of mountain lion also remains in Florida. The felines are comfortable in many different habitats and, aside from humans, have the widest geographic range of any land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.

What is the main idea? What things do I need to underline? [Allow students to answer]

What can I cross out?

Do I need to replace any words? [Allow students to answer]

Summary: The mountain lion lives primarily in the western U.S. They are comfortable in many different habitats.

Say: “Okay, now that you have gotten to practice with some different paragraphs, it is time for you to try some on your own! [Pass out copies of the printed articles: King Cobra]. [Ask students engaging questions] Do any of you like snakes? What is your favorite kind of snake? Tell us a story about your experience with snakes. Did you know that the King Cobra is one of the deadliest snakes on this planet?

In this article, you will read all about the King Cobra snake found in South and Southeast Asia and how it captures its prey. This article has different sections. After you read the articles, I would you to use the checklist that I have given you to help you write a summary. Remember our summarizing rules! When you are done, talk with a friend next to you and review each other’s work. I will be walking around and checking your progress as you work!

Assessment: To assess students’ understanding of summarizing, I will take up their checklists and summary to see who need further help. I will call students to my desk if they appear to need more practice with summarizing.

I will also ask the students the following comprehension questions:

Where does the reptile make its home?

How large are these animals?

How do they attack their prey?

Are they endangered?

Example of checklist:

Yes No

Did the student…

Delete irrelevant information?

Organize items with a big idea?

Select a topic?

Write a topic statement that covers everything that is important from the passage of the text?