Reading to Learn

On Fire for Summarization!

Reading to Learn

Lauren Whittle

Rationale: Reading is a fundamental skill for students to learn. After beginning readers have mastered decoding and have a large sight vocabulary, they start focusing on comprehension. A large part of comprehension is summarization. The heart of summarization is differentiating between what information is important and what is not. We can test a student’s comprehension skills by asking them to summarize a passage or book that they have read. In this lesson, students will underline unnecessary information, highlight important information, and write a two-sentence summary on the passage read. The teacher will model these strategies before allowing the students to practice on their own.

Materials:

1. Paper for each student

2. Pencils for each student

3. Copy of Fire Alarm for each student

4. Sample passage to display

5. Highlighters for each student

6. Dry erase board and markers for teacher modeling

7. Assessment Checklist

8. Comprehension Quiz

Procedures:

1. Say: Has anyone heard a really funny story or read a really cool book and then told a friend about it? (Wait for class response.) I think we all have! Whenever we retell a story, what do we share? Do we share every single part? (Wait for class response.) No, we don’t. We just give them the important parts that are important for understanding. This is called summarization! Summarization helps us understand what is important.

2. Say: Let’s go over some tips to help our summarization skills. Write these tips on the board.

Tip #1: Read the passage carefully.

Tip #2: After reading, identify the main idea.

Tip #3: Highlight the important parts.

Tip #4: Use a pencil to underline the unnecessary information.

Tip #5: Write out the main idea in one to two sentences

Tip #6: Find an umbrella term for the events that happen in the text.

One of the most important parts of summarization is being able to identify the important information and the unimportant (trivial) information. For example, if I asked you what happened yesterday in one sentence, what information would you choose to share? Would you tell me about something small and insignificant? Or would you tell me about something exciting that involves a lot of your day? That's right, you would tell me about something big and important! For example, yesterday, I brushed my teeth and drove to school and ate breakfast but I wouldn't share that. I would share about something more important, such as: "I came to school and learned about multiplication and how it relates to other subjects".

3. To practice our summarization skills, we’re going to read an article about fires in Brazil. Do you know where Brazil is? (wait for responses) Yes, it’s in South America. Has anyone ever traveled to South America before? (wait for responses). Well there is a very large rainforest in Brazil called the Amazon. Even though it is very far from us, that rainforest in responsible for providing us with a majority of the oxygen in the air we are breathing right now! However, that rainforest is on fire! The trees are burning which is harming local plants, animals, and people who live there. As we read, I want you to highlight information that you think is important. Afterwards, we are going to summarize in one-two sentences. Raise your hand if we read a word you do not know.

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4. Read the passage out loud to the class. As you read, stop to point out important and unimportant details. Also pause at any unknown vocabulary words. For example, we come across the word tragedy and some students don’t know what a tragedy is. Say: “A tragedy is an event that causes great sadness or disappointment. When a hurricane destroys a house, that is a tragedy. Let me show you how I would use the word “tragedy” in a sentence. When the tornado destroyed the school, it was a tragedy for everyone involved. So, in this story, is the forest fire a tragedy?? (Wait for response.) Yes, it is. Let me give you a sentence and see if you can figure out what word goes in the blank…The Amazon fire is a _____. Do this throughout the passage when necessary.

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5. Say: Now, let’s continue to practice by summarizing our passage. Spend some time thinking and writing down your summary. Make sure to use our tips if you need help summarizing. If you need to reread the passage or ask what a word means, then do that! Use whatever you need to use in order to understand the passage. When everyone is finished, we will share some of our summaries.

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6. While students are working, walk around and assess everyone’s learning. Offer assistance when necessary.

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7. Say: “Okay, now that we’re all finished, can I have a couple volunteers read their summaries?” (Wait for students to offer. Ask two students to share. Thank them for sharing and encourage them.)

Assessment Checklist:

Collect every student’s passage summaries. Evaluate their learning based on their summary and understanding.

________ highlighted necessary, important information

________ underlined unimportant, insignificant information

________ summary correctly brought ideas of the passage together coherently

_______ summary used complete sentences (1-2 sentences)

Comprehension Quiz:

1. Where is the Amazon located?

2. When did the fires begin?

3. How were the fires started?

4. How many people live in the Amazon?

5. How is Brazil fighting the fires?

Resources:

Kylie Witcher, Blast Off into Summarization

https://kyliejwitcher2.wixsite.com/mysite-2

Fire Alarm Article

https://www.timeforkids.com/g2/fire-alarm-3/