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RL Design

Schools In For Summar-ization!

Reading to Learn

By:Laura Anderson

Rationale:

The goal of reading is reading comprehension.  Reading comprehension is important because it allows the reader to get the message of the text.  Summarization is important because it helps students understand what they have read.  By teaching students to delete trivial information and finding or creating a topic sentence that explains the main idea of the text, we can help students gain better reading comprehension.  In this lesson students will practice summarizing information.  By learning to summarize and gaining understanding of the text through the process of summarization students will become stronger readers.

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Materials: 

  1. Pencils (for each student)

  2. Paper (for each student)

  3. white board to write steps of summarizing on

  4. Highlighter and purple pen for each student

  5. copy of Sloth article for each student 

  6. copy of Giant Panda article for each student

  7. summarization quiz for each student

  8. comprehension checklist for each student

 

Procedures: 

  1. Teacher says: Can someone tell me what it means to summarize a text? (Wait for response) Yes very good summarizing is when we take out the main/most important parts of a text and create a summary.  Summarizing helps us to comprehend the text better as we shorten the information into a sentence or two of key points.    

  2. Teacher says: Before we start on summarizing the text let us look at some vocabulary.  In the first paragraph of our sloth article there is the word ‘drowsy’ does everyone know what this word means? It is okay if you do not it is not a word we see all the time.  Circle the word and continue to circle words further in the text if you come upon more you do not know so you can look up their meaning.  So drowsy our first circled words means sleepy.  For example if you go to class after having a bad nights sleep then you would feel drowsy while you are sitting in class.  Now here is an example where drowsy is being used incorrectly: I was wide awake, fully rested, and drowsy. Now I am going to ask a question using our new word drowsy: I got the recommended eight hours of sleep last night would I be drowsy in class today? (let students answer) Correct I would feel well rested and not drowsy. Now I am going to say a sentence and I want you all to tell me if well rested or drowsy makes sense in the blank: He stayed up late watching the football game he was feeling ------- in class the next day. (let students answer). Great he was feeling drowsy since he stayed up late!

  3. Teacher says: Summarizing has three rules (display them on the board along with a key showing what pen or highlighter to use for each rule).  The first rule is to cross out any redundant or trivial information in the text.  Redundant information is information that is repeated or specific examples in the text.  Trivial information are parts of the text which are not important.  When you come across redundant or trivial information in your passage I want you to mark it out with your purple pen. The second rule is to pick out the important information.  Use your highlighter to mark the important parts of the text.   Once you have finished reading the article you will take the highlighted information and form a topic sentence with it summarizing the article.  A topic sentence explains the message of the passage in one to two sentences.

  4. Teacher says: Now that we know the three rules for summarizing I am going to introduce our passage. (pass out the print outs of Sloth article) We are going to read an article about sloths. Do you all know anything about sloths? They are really unique animals. The article is going to teach us about the two species of sloths, about their slow moving life style and how long the sleep. Do you guys think sloths sleep more or less than you do?  Sloths have some very interesting facts about them so lets read and find out more!

  5. Teacher says: Our sloth article is going to be what we use to practice our three summarizing rules. Looking at our first paragraph the first two sentences are definitely trivial information. The article opening with a joke about how it is a good thing sloths do not have to go to school can be quickly labeled as not important information for when we write our summary. So take your purple pen and draw a line through both sentences.  (continue reading with the class) Oh look at this sentence about the appearance of sloths this looks like it will be important for our summary.  Grab your highlights and highlight that sentence.  Now how about that following sentence with specific lengths and weights... that sentence seems a little too specific with those examples so lets grab our purple pen and cross it out. (finish reading the passage with students to collect all information needed for writing a topic sentence)

  6. Teacher says: Now that we have put rules one and two into action we are going to practice rule three and create our topic sentence. To do this we need to look back at what the article was about and what we have highlights. Okay so the article was on sloths so now what does the article tell me about them.  I have that they have long arms with shaggy fur, two species of two and three claws, and slow motion life style.  Now I need to put all of that into a sentence how about: The slow moving, long armed, shaggy furred sloth comes in two species one have two claws and the other has three claws. That sums up what my article is about in a brief topic sentence! If that sentence did not make sense or yours is a little different than mine please raise your hand and I will come answer any questions you have. (Allow students who have formed a sentence but is slightly different than yours to share it and evaluate if it is also a viable topic sentence or not. If not discuss where changes could be made.  If a student is confused all together assist them individually.)

  7. Teacher says: Now that we have summarized our article I am going to pass around some comprehension questions about Sloths. (Walk around and check students progress on the questions and then review the answers as a class)

  1. What occurs on a sloths back because they are so slow moving?

  2. What are some difference between the two species of sloths other than their number of fingers?

  3. Though sloths are slow moving creature what happens when they come across a predator?

 

 

Assessment:

  1. Teacher says: You have all done so great with our sloth article.  It is time for you all to try it out on your own with this article on giant pandas. You can use your pen and highlighter while reading to help organize the information like we practiced.  Then form your topic sentence and I will come check it (use assessment checklist).  After I want you all to think of comprehension questions you could ask about your article. Here are some comprehension questions I want you all to answer. 1) Why must Pandas consume their food so quickly? 2) What are some things Pandas eat other than Bamboo (give two examples)? 3)Why do Pandas not require sharp teeth?

 

Resources:

Elizabeth Moody: Summa-Wise-ing http://ewm0006.wixsite.com/moody-lesson-desgins/blank

Karlie Bergamini: Sum It Up Into Nuts! http://karliembergamini.wixsite.com/bergamini-lessons/sum-it-up-into-nuts

Giant Panda http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/giant-panda/#giant-panda-eating.jpg

Sloth http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/sloth/#sloth-beach-upside-down.jpg

School is Cool Image http://www.logosoftwear.com/embroideryclipart/School.School%20is%20Cool.(SC1004).(1.92x3.29).7051.jpg

 

 

Summarization Checklist:

 

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