Sum It Up!!
Reading to Learn
Chelsea Hall
Rationale: The objective of this lesson is to teach readers how to read to learn. The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. Comprehension is a very important final step in a student’s reading development. When a student reads for comprehension, they are no longer spending time decoding words, instead, they are focused on understanding the message of the text. In order for students to be successful readers, they need to be able to comprehend the text they read. In this lesson, students will practice summarization as a comprehension strategy. This lesson will teach students how to identify important ideas and key details from the passages they read while learning to eliminate the unnecessary details through modeling, guided practice and individual practice.
Materials:
SmartBoard/Whiteboard
Markers
Informational paragraphs for students to practice with
Copies of National Geographic Article: New Monkey Discovered
Paper
Pencils
Summary checklist
Procedures:
1. 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 with 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 their answers) Right! Summarizing means to read a passage and take the important parts 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 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.
2. 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 unimportant information, second, we need to read through and delete any repeated information , thirdly, we need to replaces 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 a never before seen monkey.”
3. In the article that we are about to read you might come across some vocabulary that they may not know. For example the word primate represents an animal that is in the most intelligent and developed group of mammals. 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.
4. 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. (put paragraph on board) As I am reading this passage, I am going to model how to cross out unimportant details, underline important details and pick out a nice 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 tornado touches down in Illinois on April 9. A tornado brought chaos to a tiny northern Illinois town on Thursday night. The storm killed one person, injured eight, and swept homes completely off the ground. The twister hit the ground around 7 p.m. and destroyed 15 to 20 homes in Fairdale, Illinois, according to a press statement from DeKalb County Sheriff Roger A. Scott. Eight of the 150 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 9 because I know that is important because it is the date the tornado hit. I underlined where the article said 1 person died and eight were injured because that is an important fact. I crossed out where it said homes were swept off the ground because this is just detail to what happened but not necessarily important. I also underlined Fairdale, Illinois because that is the town that was hit by the tornado. I crossed out everything after the town’s name because it isn’t important for my summary. So, now, I think I have a summary!
Summary: A tornado struck the town of Fairdale, Illinois on April 9 resulting in 1 death and 8 injuries.
5. 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. These 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.
6. Say, “Okay, now that you have gotten to practice with some different paragraphs, it’s time for you to try some on your own! (Pass out copies of the printed article: A new Monkey Discovered.) In this article, you will read all about a new monkey found in the Amazon Rain Forrest. This book is split up into sections. After you read the article, I would like 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 needs 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 was the new monkey discovered?
-How big are these new monkeys?
-Are the monkeys endangered?
Example of checklist:
Did the student... YES NO
Delete unimportant things?
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?
Sources:
Katie Carter, Let's Sum It Up
Casey Gaines, Super Summarizers
Articles for Summarizing:
