Reading to Learn

Summarization Under the Sea

Rationale: After becoming a fluent reader, and moving on to more lengthy reading material, it is important to develop summarization skills. In learning how to summarize, children will learn how to pick out important facts that will help to understand the text more clearly. This will also help when recalling the story or article.

Materials:

-Copies of Pufferfish

-Copies of Great White Shark

-Summarization checklist on poster board: delete unimportant information, delete repeated information, pick out important information, and create the topic sentence

-Summarizing checklist

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to be talking about summarizing. Can anyone tell me what summarizing means? It means to find the main ideas in the text. We must use summarizing when reading so we can comprehend the story. Can anyone tell me what comprehend means? It means to understand something better. Summarizing is one of the steps used to help us comprehend a text.”

• Review with students the summarization checklist (listed above).

• We have to delete unimportant information because that information doesn’t help us understand the text

• We have to delete any repeated information because that information might confuse us, and those facts are ones already stated

• We have to pick out important information because that information provides us with details on what the text is about

• We have to create a topic sentence because that helps us know what the text is about and what the main idea is

2. Say: “Before we start practicing summarization, we need to go over some vocabulary. Lets take a look at the word predator. A predator is an animal that naturally preys on other animals. For example, sharks are predators to smaller fish and even humans. Cheetahs are predators to zebras.

• Finish this sentence, frogs are predators to. . .

Possible answer: flies, bugs

3. Display the summarization checklist on poster board for students to look at. Go over checklist again explicitly. Say: “I’m going to show you how to summarize an article. I will cross out any unimportant information and information that is repeated. I will also underline important information. I will also find the topic sentence and summarize the whole article into one sentence.”

Pufferfish can inflate into a ball shape to evade predators. Also known as blowfish, these clumsy swimmers fill their elastic stomachs with huge amounts of water (and sometimes air) and blow themselves up to several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to ward off predators. Even if a predator gobbles up a puffer before it inflates, it won't enjoy the snack. Most pufferfish contain a toxic substance that makes them foul tasting and potentially deadly to other fish. The toxin is deadly to humans. There is enough poison in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote.

I will cross out information that is repeated information or unimportant information. I will underline important info that is necessary to understand the text. Then I will create a topic sentence. Ask the questions, what is this passage about? What is the big idea?

I will cross out that blowfish are clumsy swimmers. This statement does not help to figure out what the article is about. I also crossed out “even if a predator gobbles up a puffer before it inflates, it won’t enjoy the snack” because I do not believe it is necessary in helping us understand the importance of the article. The second half of the last sentence is also unimportant so I crossed that out too.

Summary: Pufferfish have several different ways to ward off their predators. They can inflate into a ball by filling their stomachs with water and air causing them to blow up several times their normal size. They also contain a toxic substance making them foul tasting and deadly. This toxin is poisonous to humans as well and each pufferfish has enough poison to kill 30 humans.

4. Say: “Now let’s try to summarize a paragraph together. Everyone turn to the next page.  Remember our summarization checklist. We will underline important info and cross out any unimportant info as well as repeated info. Don’t forget to create a topic sentence!”

In Japan, they are called fugu and are a very expensive, delicious treat. They are prepared only by trained, licensed fugu chefs. Most puffers are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in brackish and even fresh water. Some species of pufferfish are considered vulnerable due to pollution, habitat loss, and overfishing, but most populations are considered stable.

Topic: Most pufferfish are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters.

Why? This is the only place where they are able to survive.

Summary: Most pufferfish live in tropical and subtropical waters. This is the only place where they could survive. If they did not live in these waters, then they would not be a stable population.

5. “Today we will practice our summarizing skills while reading an article about Great White Sharks. You must read to find out how baby sharks grow up without a mother. After reading the whole article, you will write a summary sentence after each paragraph. Remember to use our summarization checklist and underline important information. Be sure to cross out unimportant info and repeated info. Most importantly, write a topic sentence!”

6. Assessment

To assess, I will use the checklist listed below to grade the students summarizing skills.

When summarizing, did the student. . .

Delete unimportant information?

Delete repeated information?

Select a topic?

Write an inclusive, accurate, simple topic sentence to summarize the passage?

References:

“Ready, Set, Summarize!” by Hillary Goins

https://sites.google.com/site/ctrdhillarygoins/reading-to-learn-lesson-design

“Pufferfish”

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/pufferfish/#pufferfish-closeup.jpg

“Great White Sharks”

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/great-white-shark/#great-white-shark-swimming-blue.jpg

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