Sophisticated Summarizers

 Katie Bolander- Reading to Learn

Rationale: A higher form of reading is reading to learn. When reading to learn it is essential to be able to sum up what you have just read into a few short sentences so that it can be easy to let others know the gist of what you have just read. This lesson will teach students to summarize through practice summarizing expository text and explicit instruction on how to create a summary.

Materials:

·         Sentence strip that says: Today is a beautiful day to go to the park.

·         Overhead of Sacagawea passage for everyone to see

·         Pen and highlighter

·         Class set of National Geographic Kids: Amazing Animal Journeys

·         Student notebooks to take notes

·         Class set of worksheets http://www.readingquest.org/pdf/sumitup.pdf

Procedures:

1. Say: "Today, we are going to be learning about summaries. Can anyone tell me what a summary is? *wait for a response* That's right, a summary is a short representation that contains the important facts of a passage that we have just read. A summarization lets others know in a few sentences what you have just read.

2. Say: "Before we start learning how to summarize let's review some vocabulary in last week's book, All About Turtles. Let's review three main vocabulary words. Can anyone remember what the words hatchling, migration and habitat mean? (allow the students time to answer) Good job remembering our vocabulary from our last story! A hatchling is a recently hatched animal, migration is to go from one country, region, or place to another, and a habitat is a place where a person, animal or plant lives.

3. Say: "We use summarizing after we have read a passage and need to tell the main idea of what we read in only a few sentences. When summarizing we choose the important facts as we are reading and we eliminate the extra information. After we have chosen the important ideas out of the story/passage we string the ideas together to form a summary."

4. Say: "Watch and listen as I read this passage. I will choose the important information and I will eliminate the extra information. Passage: When Sacagawea was young, she was taken by Hidatsa, another Native American tribe. She then became the property of a French man named Toussaint Charbonneau. He won her as the result of a bet and later married her. When Lewis and Clark met her, in 1804, she was 16. She was also about to become a mother. Sacagawea proved very useful to Lewis and Clark on the journey. Her Shoshone relatives provided them with supplies and safe passage through their lands. She saved several notebooks from a canoe that had overturned. She also served as a calming influence on other Native Americans, who saw the presence of a woman in the expedition as proof that it was not a war party. Now watch and listen as I eliminate the extra information and I hightlight the important information . When Sacagawea was young, she was taken by Hidatsa, another Native American tribe. She then became the property of a French man named Toussaint Charbonneau. He won her as the result of a bet and later married her. When Lewis and Clark met her, in 1804, she was 16. She was also about to become a mother. Sacagawea proved very useful to Lewis and Clark on the journey. Her Shoshone relatives provided them with supplies and safe passage through their lands. She saved several notebooks from a canoe that had overturned. She also served as a calming influence on other Native Americans, who saw the presence of a woman in the expedition as proof that it was not a war party. Next, I will use the important information that I have highlighted to create a summary of this passage: When Sacagawea was young she married Toussaint Charbonneau. When she was 16 in 1804 she met Lewis and Clark. Her involvement had a calming influence on other Native Americans.

5. Say: "Next you are going to read National Geographic Kids: Amazing Animal Journeys. The part of the book that we will be reading is about zebras. We will learn facts about zebras including where they live and what they eat!You will only read the zebra section pages 4-17 quietly at your desk. As you read you will be taking notes of the important information that you read about zebras. When everyone is done reading we will split into groups of five. Each person in the group must provide an important piece of information about the passage that we read. As a group you will come up with a summary using everyone's important piece of information. When every group in the class has created their summary we will present it to the entire class."

6. Assessment: Every child will read the next section in their National Geographic Kids: Amazing Animal Journeys pages 18-29 on crabs. Each student must fill out the sheet provided. http://www.readingquest.org/pdf/sumitup.pdf    On this sheet they will write down the important information and create a summary of what they just read. Each student should also answer the comprehension questions below.

Reference:

Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/

Kelly Crumrine Summing Up: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/crumrinerl.htm

Worksheet: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing/

1. Why do Zebras have stripes? (pg. 7) ______________________________________________________________

2. Where do Zebras stay during the dry season? (pg. 10)

______________________________________________________________

3. What were added to the water holes in the Boteti River Basin? (pg. 14) ______________________________________________________________

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