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Rationale

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Once children have learned to read accurately and fluently, they transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn.” Comprehension is a crucial part in learning to read. Summarization is one of the most powerful strategies for comprehending text because it allows students to identify and remember important information in a text, rather than trivia. Students must find an umbrella term that identifies the main point of a passage in order to create a summarization. An effective method for summarizing is called the about point method. This method has students ask themselves two questions about the text: 

What is the text about?

This is typically an easy question and indicates the subject of the topic sentence.

What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?

This is typically a more difficult question because students must superordinate the points, find an overarching term that covers all the main points an author is making. 

In other words, students use this method and summarization to sort the important information from the trivial information in order to remember the important information. 

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Materials

Pencil and paper

Copies of “Bye, Bye, Fly” passage and questions

Summarization checklist for the teacher

Comprehension quiz (consisting of the questions attached to the passage)

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Procedure

Say: “Today we are going to learn how to summarize! When we take important points an author makes in a text and leave behind the information that is not important, that is called summarization. It would be extremely difficult to remember everything we read, so we use summarization to help us remember the important parts. Today we are going to practice summarizing by reading a text and writing a sentence explaining what the article is about.”

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Say: “Before we start reading I am going to tell you the secret to summarizing. Our secret is to make summarization short and sweet by using the about-point method. This method has us ask ourselves two questions after reading the article: what is the text about and what is the main point that the writer is trying to make? Another set of rules that may help you is to delete trivia to get to the main ideas.

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Say: “We are going to practice using the about-point method with an article about Venus flytrap’s! Does anyone want to share something they know about Venus flytrap’s?” Wait for student responses. “Well today we are going to learn all about them and we are going to use our summarizing secret!”

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Say: “Before we read we are going to talk about a word that some of us may not know. This word is nutrient. Nutrients are substances that help living things grow and stay alive. For example, I am going to eat an apple because it provides me with the nutrients I need to stay strong! Do fruits and vegetables have important nutrients?” Wait for students' answers. “Yes, they do!”

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Say: “All right, we are going to read a paragraph from an article about Venus flytrap’s!” Project the paragraph onto the board. “In a marsh somewhere in North Carolina, a hungry fly is looking for a meal. A plant called the Venus flytrap seems like a good bet. Its leaves, which grow in pairs like a clam’s shell, shine with a sweet juice. So the fly lands on a leaf. Then it takes a few steps toward the juice.” “Now that we read the paragraph, there are two questions we need to ask ourselves. 

The first question is ‘What is this about?’ I know the paragraph talks about a fly and a Venus flytrap but which one does the paragraph focus on?” Wait for students to answer. “Correct it focuses on the Venus flytrap.” 

“The second question is ‘What is the main point the writer is trying to make?’ The paragraph as a whole is telling us how the Venus flytrap attracts flies.” 

“Now I can use my two answers to create a topic sentence like this: The Venus flytrap attracts flies by producing a sweet juice on its leaves.”

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Say: “Now it’s your turn to try the about-point method using this paragraph from the article!” 

“Snap! The leaves close tight around the fly. It is trapped. Now, instead of enjoying the Venus flytrap’s sweet juice, the fly will be eaten by the plant.”

What is this paragraph about? Yes, the Venus flytrap. What is the main point the author is making about the Venus flytrap? Correct, the Venus flytrap traps the fly so it can eat the fly. How could we combine those ideas in one sentence beginning: The Venus flytrap…? The Venus flytrap will close around fly so it can be eaten

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Say: “Now that you know how to create a topic sentence, everyone please read the next two paragraphs closely and make your own unique topic sentences. Be sure to write these on your own paper and remember to only pick out the important information. After everyone finishes with their topic sentences we will have a short quiz to see what you remember about Venus flytraps.” 

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Assessment: Collect each students topic sentences and evaluate them using the Summarization Assessment Checklist.

 

 

Summarization Assessment Checklist:

__Used important information from the article

__Did not use trivia or examples in the summary

__Significantly reduced text from the original article 

__Contains an idea from each section of the article

__Organized summary into a 2-5 sentence summary

 

Comprehension Quiz:

1. Where does the Venus flytrap grow?

2. The Venus flytrap attracts insects because it -

Has leaves that grow in pairs.

Smells like a clam

Has sweet juice on its leaves.

Has nutrients that insects need.

3. What causes the Venus flytrap to close its leaves around an insect?

4.Look at the last picture and read the sentence that goes with it. What will happen next to the insect in this picture?

5. How is the Venus flytrap different from most plants?

It needs nutrients.

It has shiny leaves.

It grows in soil.

It eats insects.

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References 

“Bye, Bye, Fly,” ​https://p7cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_248890/File/Grades%202-3%20Nonfiction%20Passages.pdf

“Using About-Point to Awaken the Main Idea”  by Bruce Murray.  

https://murraba.wixsite.com/readinglessons/reading-to-learn

“Sliding into Summarization” by Ms. Ray. https://sites.google.com/view/ms-ray-reading-lessons/reading-to-learn

 

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