Summarizing in the Sea

By: Caroline Horton

Caroline Horton

 

Rationale: In order to become better readers, we must truly understand what we are reading. One way to for beginning readers to improve comprehension is to learn how to summarize. Summarizing is taking all of the important details and main ideas out of a text and combine them in a way that explains the story to someone who has not read it. This lesson helps students learn how to find those main ideas and key details in a text by having the teacher model summarization and then by summarizing on their own. After the students learn how to summarize on their own, they will be assessed on their summarization skills through comprehension questions at the end of the lesson.

 

Materials:

• Poster with summarization rules

  • Get rid of unimportant information

  • Get rid of repeated information

  • Use key vocabulary

  • Select a topic

  • Make up a topic sentence if there is not one

• Paper and pencil

• Individual copies of the article Bull Shark

  • https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/b/bull-shark/

• Summarization checklist

• Comprehension questions

Procedures:

1. Say: "Today we are going to learn how to summarize. Summarizing is going to help you better comprehend what you read. What do you all think it means to summarize what you read? Summarization is when you read a passage or piece of text and take out all the small details so that you are left with the main idea of the text. Let’s review some things we have learned about reading first. Then, we will talk more about what it means to summarize as well as some of the rules of summarizing.”

2. Say: “The poster in the front of the room has a list of summarization rules. Let’s read step by step.”

3. Say: “I’m handing out an article titled "Bull Shark". Based off the title, what do you think this article is going to be about? What does the title tell you?

4. Say: We’re going to read the first part of the story together, and I’ll show you how to summarize. Then you’ll get to summarize the rest of the story on your own.  We are going to read the story very closely together.

5. Say: Okay, who can give me a summary of what we just read?” [Give different students a chance to give their summaries and assist as needed. Jot down some of their summaries on the board] Let’s take a look at my copy of this paragraph on the SmartBoard. Notice how I highlighted important details and crossed out details that were not important. That helps me keep facts straight and the main idea in mind.  [Model sample: bull sharks are the most dangerous sharks in the world, according to many experts. This is because they're an aggressive species of shark, and they tend to hunt in waters where people often swim: along tropical shorelines.

6. Explain: To review, the main topic or first sentence tells us what the paragraph will be about. Our first sentence talked about how the bull shark is the most dangerous species of sharks in the world. And then the paragraph tells us why. It is important to know why they are dangerous, so I highlighted the supporting information. I crossed out “according to many experts” because although this may seem important, it doesn’t explain why they are dangerous. Some information is more important than other information in a paragraph, identifying which information is helpful is going to help you summarize more effectively.

7. Say:  Let’s read more about the Bull Sharks. As you read, underline details that you think are important and contribute to the main idea of the story. Take a pencil and cross out the details that you do not think are important.  The main idea of this story is to give you more information on bull sharks. There is a lot of information on these animals, so pick facts that are main ideas. For example, where they live, what they eat, are they endangered, etc.

8. When you’ve finished reading and marking the story, I want you to summarize it in 5 sentences or less.  Remember to only include main ideas and details. Don’t include any of the details that you crossed out, only the ones that you have underlined. Write in complete sentences and use correct punctuation. The most important thing is not to copy the text just like it is but put it in your own words. 

9. When you’ve finished reading and summarizing, I want you to come put your papers on the front table.

10. After students turn in their summarizations, hand out the comprehension questions and have them answer those on their own. Grade those for accuracy to assess their comprehension. 

Comprehension Questions: 

1. What kind of water do bull sharks live in?

2. How can bull sharks live in freshwater?

3. Humans are not part of bull shark’s normal prey, so why might a bull shark bite a human?

 

 

Checklist:

• Delete unimportant facts?    YES   or    NO

• Delete repeated information?   YES   or    NO

• Write a topic statement that covers everything that is important from the passage of the text?  YES   or    NO

• Write a topic sentence?   YES   or    NO

• Write a summery that includes the main idea?     YES   or    NO

• Define unknown words?      YES   or    NO

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/b/bull-shark/

https://kmp0054.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/reading-to-learn-design

http://sdh0017.wixsite.com/mysite/reading-to-learn

http://klk0024.wixsite.com/design/copy-of-begninning-reading-design