Reading to Learn | funwithreading

Growing Tall With 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; the reader must decide on the overall most important message of the text. The main point will become the predicate of the topic sentence.

Materials:

Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about giraffes: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/giraffe/#giraffe-pair-eating.jpg
Pencil and paper for each student
Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (see below)

Procedures:

1. Explain to children 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 large texts into smaller chunks, the main ideas become easier to remember.

2. 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 tough 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.

3. In a few minutes, I am going to model how I would do the about-point method with a paragraph on giraffes, which is what your article is about today. Have you ever seen a giraffe? How tall are they? What do they eat? How much do they weigh? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer.

4. Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that you’ll be reading: approaching. Approaching means that something is getting closer to you. This could be a car moving closer to you, an animal, or even a person. Approaching doesn’t mean that something is right beside you, but it does mean that it is moving towards you. For example, “I saw the school bus approaching my house.” That means that I saw the school bus pulling up. Which one of these situations has an object approaching you: A ball rolling away from you or a dog bringing you his ball? A caterpillar crawling to your shoe or a grasshopper jumping off your shoulder? What is something else that you could see approaching? Finish this sentence: I was scared when I saw the _________ approaching me. (Example answers: dog, cat, snake, etc.).

5. Here is a paragraph from the story:

“Giraffes grow about 4 feet (1.2 meters) in their first year of life. A newborn giraffe is about 6 feet (1.9 meters) tall at birth and weighs about 150 pounds (68 kilograms).”

This paragraph is about the size of giraffes when they are young, but what important point is the writer making? Baby giraffes grow a lot. Even though they are already big when they are born, they continue to grow four feet in just one year. If I put these points together, I can create a topic sentence: Even though giraffes are pretty big when they are born, they continue to grow a lot during their first year.

6. 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 giraffes. 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 our 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:

1. Do giraffes continue to grow a lot after they are born?

2. Why do many giraffe calves die during their first year of life?

3. What helps adult giraffes stay safe from predators?

4. Why is it dangerous for giraffes to drink water? What must they do?

5. What do giraffes do to help other giraffes stay safe during drink or rest time?