Reading to Learn Lesson Design

Reading to Learn : Lesson Design

Swinging into Summarization

Rationale: Summarization is a strategy to help readers focus on the most important parts of the text. This helps readers better comprehend what they read. An effective summarization strategy is called about-point. When using this method, two questions should be asked: 1) What is the text about? Usually, this is an easy question that helps identify the topic sentence. 2) What is the main point that the writer is making about the topic? This question can be a little more challenging. Often, several points are made and the reader must decide on the overall most important message of the text.

Materials:

Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about spider monkeys: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/spider-monkey/#spider-monkey-group-25880544.jpg
Pencil and paper for each student
Summarization Checklist
Comprehension Quiz

Procedures:

Explain to the students why summarization is an important skill to learn: “Whenever we read a text, we won’t be able to memorize every single word because there are just too many details. Good readers don’t try to remember every word; instead, they focus on summarizing the most important points that the author is trying to make about the topic. When we break the larger text into smaller chunks, the main ideas become easier to remember.
Say: “The best way to summarize is to use the about-point method. You must ask yourself two questions. The first question, which is also the easiest, is “What is the text about?” The tougher question is “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?” To answer this question, you have to think of a way to summarize all of the important points in the text. Once you form your answers, you can use them to create a topic sentence.”
Say: “In a few minutes, I am going to model how I would do the about-point method with a paragraph on spider monkeys, which is what your article is about today. Have you ever seen or heard of a spider monkey? What sets them apart from other monkeys? What kinds of food do they eat? How do they live? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer.
Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that you will read: prehensile. Prehensile means capable of grasping. Our hands are prehensile, and sometimes even our feet and toes! Prehensile does not mean touching or looking at something, but it does mean picking something up or holding onto something. For example, “My hands are prehensile because I am holding this cup.” That means that my hands are prehensile because they can grasp or hold onto something. Answer this question: I won a toy while playing the claw machine. Is the claw prehensile? Yes, the claw is prehensile because it grasped the toy. The book shelf fell over in the classroom. Is the book shelf prehensile? No, the book shelf cannot grasp anything. Finish this sentence: My toes are prehensile because ____________. Right, my toes are prehensile because I grabbed something with them.

Here is an excerpt from the story:

“Spider monkeys hug each other and wrap their tails around each other. They are very intelligent and have robust memories.”

Say: “This excerpt is about how intelligent spider monkeys are. What point is the writer trying to make? Spider monkeys are very smart and remember specific things that make them amazing creatures. If I think of this excerpt, I can formulate a topic sentence: Spider monkeys are very intelligent creatures.”

Now it’s your turn! I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article. This will help you remember the important facts about spider monkeys. Remember, we shouldn’t summarize examples or trivia; these are only written to help you understand the main ideas. Your job is to write a short version of the article by summarizing in your own words. After everyone finishes, we will have a quiz to check for understanding.

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article. Evaluate the responses using the following checklist:

____ Collected important information

____ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

____ Text is significantly reduced from the original

____ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

____ Sentences are organized coherently into essay form

Quiz: