Rationale:

When students begin to learn how to read, they are taught different strategies and skills that will help them decode and recognize new words. Although these skills are important when reading, the ultimate goal of learning to read is for students to be able to comprehend texts. In a student’s reading development, comprehension is the last and very important step. We want students to be able to understand the message in texts, enjoy them, and learn from them. In order for a student to be successful in reading comprehension they must rehearse summarization. Once readers can identify the main points of an article, they become a more accurate researcher, writer, and reader. During this lesson, students will have the opportunity to analyze a number of articles in attempt to find the main points of the text. Students will summarize the text by selecting important information and eliminating unnecessary details.

 

Materials:

1. Pencils (One for each student)

2. Paper

3. Class set of yellow highlighters

4. Class set of red highlighters

5. Individual copies of article “Is There a Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs”

6. Copy of article on overhead or projector for the teacher, “What Causes Seasons”

7. Summarization Activity Checklist:

   • _______ I have written my topic sentence.

   • _______ I have found supporting details to help answer the question.

   • _______ I have removed unimportant information by crossing it out.

   • _______ I have removed repeated ideas.

   • _______ I have written a 3-5-sentence summary.

8. Individual Rubrics for assessment

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When Summarizing did the student:

• Construct a topic sentence that answers the passage’s question? Y/N

• Delete unimportant information? Y/N

• Include supporting details? Y/N

• Delete Repeated information? Y/N

• Organize summary with big idea? Y/N

 

 

Procedures:

1. Introduce Summarization

Say: “Today our lesson is about summarization. What does summarize mean? Good job! Summarize means to find the most important information in an article. Have you ever read a book that you found so interesting that you had to tell your friend all about it? Did you tell them every exact thing that happened in the story, or did you just tell them the important parts you read? That’s correct! We only tell the important parts of the story. This is exactly like summarizing. In order for us to find the information that is most important, what are some things we might have to do? We have to get rid of all the information that does not help us answer the overall question of the article! Today, we are all going to become experts at summarization.

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    2. Hand out “Summarization Checklist.”

Say: “What you see on this paper that you are getting from me is what I like to call a ‘Summarization Checklist.’ When I look at this piece of paper, it tells me all the steps I have to take in order to summarize while I read. In order for us to be a good summarizer, we have to start off by knowing what our summary is going to be about. One thing we have to do when summarizing is think about what the main idea was in our passage and write a topic sentence telling just that. Next, we have to try to include a bit of details from our article. We will have to read through our entire passage and look for important details that support or help tell the main idea of the article. But while we look for important details, we have to also look at the unimportant or repeated details not necessary to be included in our summary. Sometimes information in an article is repeated multiple times. This tells us that this information is an important detail, but once we have seen it already, we don’t need to see it again. After you have found the important details and eliminated the unimportant details, you can begin by writing your summary. Remember, a summary is a brief review of what you have just read. All of your ideas should be organized in a way that represents the main idea of the article, thus you are able to write your topic sentence. This means your summary should be short and in your own words.”

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    3. The 3 Important Rules of Summarization

Say: “Looking back at our checklist, there are three important rules that you need to always remember when summarizing. The first is to find the important details that will help you write your summary. The second rule is to get rid of all the unimportant or unrelated details that you believe will draw away form your summary. And lastly, the third rule is to organize your ideas and thoughts that begin with a topic sentence with important details that follow. Keep these rules in mind and you can summarize anything!”

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     4. Say: “Today, I am going to show you how to use your summarization checklist with the first paragraph from the article, “What Causes Seasons?” Do you all know what seasons are? Think about how the way changes depending on the time of the year. There are four different seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. When I think about summer, I think about how it is very hot outside. When I think about winter, I think about how cold it is outside. But what makes a season change from one to another? We’ll just have to read to find out.”

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     5. Say: “I am going to read the first paragraph aloud and I’d like you all the follow along.”

 

‘The Earth’s axis, the imaginary line around which the earth turns in its daily rotation, is slightly tilted. The seasons are caused by this tilt and by the fact that the Earth’s axis always holds the same location in space. If the axis were not tilted, the sun would always be directly over the Equator and the northern and southern hemispheres would both have constant, similar weather the year round.’

 

Say: “There are a few words in this paragraph I’m not sure what they mean. The first word is “rotation”. Does anyone know what “rotation” means? Let’s try to use context clues to figure the meaning of the word. Look back at that first sentence. It says, “…the imaginary line around which the earth turns in its daily rotation…” Hmm… “Around which the earth turns”. Do you guys think “rotation” means to move around in a circle or to move out of the way? Right! To move in a circle around a center, or in this case an axis! It does not mean to simply move to the side. So would making everyone stand in a circle, hold hands, and take a step to the right be a rotation? That’s right. Help me finish the sentence; in my class, we each take turns being the line leader in a weekly… In a weekly ROTATION. Very good! Rotation can also mean having everyone getting a chance to be a leader until we get back to the first person and start all over. It’s like making a circle! Let's practice using our new vocabulary.  Here's rotation used in a sentence: In order for the farmers to maintain their fields, they must have a yearly crop rotation. Now I'm going to ask you a question about the word. If you were giving directions to someone, would you tell them to take a rotation to the right to get to the store? No! That tells them to turn in a circle. Finally, complete my sentence: The _____ of our planet causes the cycle of day and night. Rotation! Good job! Now that we know what it means for the earth to rotate, let’s see how that helps change the seasons!”

 

            Other words to be taught: tilt, location, equator, and hemisphere 

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Ex. Sentence: In order to pour myself a glass of water, I need to tilt the pitcher.

Question: Would you ask someone to offer you a tilt of soup? No! Tilt is used as an action or to describe an object. 

Complete the sentence: The man across the store _____ his head to say hello.

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     6. Say: “After reading about how the sun, the tilt of Earth’s axis, and the rotation contribute to the change of seasons, we now have to try to summarize this passage. First, what is this article about? The seasons! Good job! So now that we know the seasons are our main idea, let’s highlight seasons in yellow. Now let’s find some details that help answer our question, what causes the change in seasons? Let’s look at the second paragraph.”

 

‘As the earth travels around the sun, the North Pole is sometimes pointed toward the sun and sometimes pointed away from it. When the North Pole is pointed toward the sun, the sun’s rays strike most directly on the northern hemisphere. Vertical rays of sunlight are more effective in producing light and heat than are slanting rays. There are two reasons why: 1) slanting rays must pass through a greater thickness of atmosphere than vertical rays and thus lose more of their heat; and 2) slanting rays are spread out over a greater area than vertical rays and are therefore less concentrated. When the North Pole is pointed toward the sun, summer is produced in the northern hemisphere; the southern hemisphere has winter. When the South Pole is pointed toward the sun, the southern hemisphere receives the most heat and has summer.’

 

Say: “Let’s begin by highlighting the words or ideas we see a lot of. I see sun, South Pole, North Pole, and rays a lot. As I’m highlighting these words in red, I notice that depending on the Pole and direction it is pointed towards looking at the sun, determines how the sunrays strike different parts of the earth and cause seasons. Now I need to reread and cross out anything unimportant. After this, we need to look at the last paragraph and find the most important information that will help us answer the question what causes the change in seasons. You try it!”

 

    7. After students have had the chance to summarize the last paragraph on their own, inform them to look for a topic sentence.

 

Say: “We have found all of our important information, now we have to write a topic sentence! The topic sentence is the main idea of the passage. I’ve learned that the sun’s rays and tilt of the Earth’s axis helps cause the change in seasons. This could be my topic sentence: ‘Seasons change by the tilt of the Earth’s axis and how the sun’s rays are directed toward the hemispheres.’”

 

Continue writing summary with students, looking for supporting details and excluding any unnecessary information. Once you have completed your summary, use your checklist to make sure you have followed all necessary steps.

 

Say: “Yay! We have finished our summaries. Do I have a topic sentence? Did I include supporting details? Did I get rid of unimportant information? Are my summary 3-5 sentences? It looks like we have it all! Great job!”

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     8. Pass out handouts on “Is There a Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs”

Say: “Since we practiced summarizing an article together, I want you to do it on your own! This article is about creatures that roamed the Earth before humans and how they evolved. Does anyone know what kind of creatures existed before humans? Dinosaurs! In this article, we are trying to see if birds evolved from dinosaurs or dinosaurs evolved from birds. Let’s find out! Make sure to look back at your summarization checklist as you go!”

 

Assessment:

To assess the students, I will have them turn in a copy of their article. I will be looking to see if they highlighted repeats or important information, and crossed out the correct details. I will read over each summary individually. A rubric will be used to assess (see materials). Provide students with comprehension questions on article.

 

Resources:

http://discoverykids.com/articles/what-causes-seasons/

http://discoverykids.com/articles/is-there-a-link-between-birds-and-dinosaurs/

Ready, Set, Summarize! By Claire Koenig, http://csk0009.wixsite.com/eportfolio/reading-to-learn

Swimming Into Summarization by Sydney Hall http://slh0043.wixsite.com/misshallswebsite/reading-to-learn

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