Let’s Sum It Up

RL Design

Rationale:

The objective of this lesson is to teach readers how to read to learn. The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. Comprehension is a very important final step in a student’s reading development. When a student reads for comprehension, they are no longer spending time decoding words, instead, they are focused on understanding the message of the text. In order for students to be successful readers, they need to be able to comprehend the text they read. In this lesson, students will practice summarization as a comprehension strategy. This lesson will teach students how to identify important ideas and key details from the passages they read while learning to eliminate the unnecessary details through modeling, guided practice and individual practice, as well as superordinating events.

Materials:

Individual copies of No Petting the Orangutans, Please article https://www.highlightskids.com/audio-story/no-petting-orangutans-please
Hurricane Katrina Article http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrinaand
The Barred Owl Article https://www.highlightskids.com/audio-story/eye-out-owls
Pencil and paper for each student
Summarization checklist

Procedures:

1. Explain to children why summarization is important: Good readers don’t try to remember everything. They use summarization strategies to remember only the important points. So, instead of trying to remember a whole text of words, we can use our summarization skills to get the highlights of a reading. Today we will be learning how to summarize a block of text to ensure that you understand the text that you read.

2. Say, “Now we are going to talk about some rules that we need to use to help us when we are writing summaries. First, we need to delete any unimportant information. Second, we need to read through and delete any repeated information. Thirdly, we need to replaces lists of items with easier terms, and select or invent a topic sentence with which to begin our summary. Finally, we need to order the important events. We are going to practice with these rules by reading different paragraphs together and then, you are going to practice on your own with an article called No Petting the Orangutans, Please.”

3. In the article that we are about to read as a class, you might come across some vocabulary that they may not know. For example, the word quantity is the amount or number of a material collected. A new sentence context could be “There was a great quantity of children at the playground on the sunny Saturday. While you are reading I want you to underline the words that you have never seen before and we will go over them as a class so that everyone can have a better understanding of this new vocabulary. Then, I want everyone to define the words they don’t know and use them in a complete sentence in a different context.

4. Say, “Okay, now we are going to look at a paragraph together. I will put it on the board so that everyone can see it as we read along together. (put paragraph on board) As I am reading this passage, I am going to model how to cross out unimportant details, underline important details and pick out a nice topic sentence. Make sure you pay close attention so that you will know what to do when it is your turn to do this! This article is about Hurricane Katrina. Raise your hand if you know what a hurricane is. Tell me what you think it is. Good, it is like a tornado on water. We are going to read to see what happened to a city called New Orleans when a hurricane hit.”

Paragraph:

By the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans early in the morning on Monday, August 29, it had already been raining heavily for hours. When the storm surge (as high as 9 meters in some places) arrived, it overwhelmed many of the city’s unstable levees and drainage canals. Water seeped through the soil underneath some levees and swept others away altogether. By 9 a.m., low-lying places like St. Bernard Parish and the Ninth Ward were under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety. Eventually, nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water.

As I was reading, I circled Hurricane Katrina because that seems like it is the main idea of the passage. I underlined August 29 and New Orleans because those are important details about the main idea. I crossed out sentences like “it rained heavily for hours” and “water seeped through the soil underneath some levees” because those are just extra supporting details. I underlined people had to scramble to rooftops for safety because it lets me know that this was a big disaster. Then, I put question marks by words I don’t know like “levee” and “quantity” and I looked them up in my dictionary and replaced them with a word I do know or a synonym. Finally, I wrote a new sentence with the word to make sure I knew the meaning. Okay, now I think I have everything I need to summarize this text!

Summary: Hurricane Katrina was a devastating storm that hit New Orleans on August 29 causing a lot of damage to the city.

5. Say, “Let's try summarizing a paragraph together. I am going to put up another paragraph and this time, I want you to tell me what information to underline, cross out, or replace. This text is about owls. Who can tell me what they know about owls? Good, they make a 'hoo' noise, they are active at night, and they are normally up in trees. Let's read to find out more.” (put paragraph on board)

Paragraph:

The barred owl is a fairly large bird with deep black eyes. It allows you to get closer than other owls do. But if you happen to be a great horned owl, it won’t stick around very long. It’s been reported that the great horned owl might eat the barred owl! Barred owl are often found in a swampy, wooded area. Luckily, there are no great horned owls around. This spot had been the winter home of a barred owl for many years. The only years it was not seen were those when a great horned owl lived in the area. The fall and winter are great times to look for owls. When leaves are gone from the trees, the owls’ perches are much easier to spot. Keep your eyes open for owls this season.

· What is the main idea? What things do I need to circle? (allow students to answer)

· What can I cross out?

· What are words that I don’t know? (allow students to answer)

What are some important details that I need to know?

Summary: Barred owls are bigger and more social than a horned owl, but do not seem to get along very well when both spotted in their most active seasons: winter and fall.

6. Say, “Okay, now that you have gotten to practice with some different paragraphs, it’s time for you to try some on your own! (Pass out copies of the printed article No Petting the Orangutans, Please.) In this article, you will read all about orangutans and how they are an endangered species. Who knows can tell me what they think an endangered species is? These are all really good answer. Let's read more to find out. After you read the article, I would like you to use the checklist that I have given you to help you write a summary. Remember our summarizing rules! When you are done, talk with a friend next to you and review each other’s work. I will be walking around and checking your progress as you work!

Assessment: To assess students understanding of summarizing I will take up their checklists and summary to see who needs further help. I will call students to my desk if they appear to need more practice with summarizing.

I will also ask the students the following comprehension questions:

-Where can you find orangutans?

-How many are left?

-Are the monkeys endangered? If so, why?

- What is the main idea of the paragraph?

Example of checklist:

Did the student... YES NO

Delete unimportant things?

Organize items with a big idea?

Select a topic?

Write a topic statement that covers

everything that is important from