Rationale: Reading comprehension is the main goal of reading that involves understanding the overall message of a passage. To be able to gain this understanding, a reader can use summarization to figure out the main message. In this lesson, the students will learn to summarize a passage by picking out the most important information, crossing out the unnecessary details, and describing the key points of the reading in a few sentences. 

 

   Materials: 

• Poster with steps for summarization

• Poster with paragraph 1 (from article) typed out in BIG font

• Sharpie poster marker (thick) - teacher

• Highlighter – teacher

• Highlighters for students

• Notebook paper – 2 pages per student

•  Pencils – one per student

• Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about snakes: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/nature/super-snakes/

• Summarization checklist – 1 per student

• Comprehension Quiz – I per student 

 

   Procedures:

1. Explain why summarization is important:

Say: “when we think about a good reader, we know they do not try to remember every detail that they read. Instead, they summarize the information they read. Summarizing means to take a large section of a text and pick out the most important parts of it, by reducing it. The important parts are: the gist, key details, main points, and remembering. This strategy is used by good readers to remember the most important details from the author. 

  2. Summarization Poster – Review Summarization tips

Say: “Here are three things we must do when we summarize a text:

- 1st– We must cross out any unimportant details or repeated information that is not important to the message of the text. 

- 2nd– We must find and highlight the most important information that is essential to the meaning of the text. 

- 3rd– We must form a topic sentence from the key information that we highlighted. 

  Say: “Now, I am going to show and model for you how I do these exact steps to summarize with a paragraph on snakes, which is from an article that the whole class will read today.”

• Book talk: “Who’s favorite animal is a snake? (wait for a show of hands). Does anyone have a pet snake at home? (wait for a show of hands). Do you know what family the snake belongs to? Does anyone know what they eat? We will know the answers to these questions by the end of the day.”                3. Teach class about important vocabulary in the passage:     

 Say: “It is very important to understand the key vocabulary in the passage so that we can comprehend what we read. Together as a class, we are going to go over a few key words that you will see while reading the articles about snakes.” (For each word: explain in simple language, model how to use the word (What does it mean? What does it NOT mean?), provide sample questions using the word, and scaffold by making a sentence using the word for the students to complete.)

WORDS: venom, reptile, slither, carnivore

Example: Say:” Venom is one of the words in your passage so let’s look at what it means. It means: a poisonous substance produced by some animals that is injected into its prey by biting or stinging, to produce an injury or deadly effect. Venom can be painful and possibly deadly to the prey. Venom is not safe. Which of these is an example of a scenario where venom would be used? A cat attacks a snake and the snake bites it, or if a bee was pollinating flowers? 

 

 4. (Hang poster with paragraph 1 on it beside poster with summarization rules. Teacher should get a thick sharpie and highlighter for this activity. Pass out the snake article to each student, along with a highlighter and pencil for each.)

Say: “Here is a paragraph from our article. I am now going to show you how to summarize this text. I want you to follow along and do it with me, but on your own paper. First, let’s review our summarization steps:

- 1st– We must cross out any unimportant details or repeated information that is not important to the message of the text. 

- 2nd– We must find and highlight the most important information that is essential to the meaning of the text. 

- 3rd– We must form a topic sentence from the key information that we highlighted. 

 

First, I need to cross out any information in the text that is not important, or that is repeated. I can cross out sentence 4 because it is not important to the main idea of the text. Next, I need to highlight all of the important information. I think that sentences 1, 2, and 3 are important to the paragraph, so I am going to highlight those sentences. 

 

“A snake uses its tongue to help it smell. It flicks its long, forked tongue to pick up chemical molecules from the air, ground, or water. The tongue carries the smelly molecules back to two small openings in the roof of the snake's mouth where they're analyzed.”

 

The last thing I need to do is form a topic sentence from the information that I have highlighted. (write topic sentence on the poster): The snake’s tongue is important because it helps them smell. 

 

   Students summarize: 

Say: “Okay class, it is now time for you to use the rules of summarization we have been discussing.”

Read together the 2ndparagraph from the article: “Some snakes—such as pythons, rattlesnakes, and copperheads—can't see well and use other senses to find prey. These creatures have openings called pit holes in front of their eyes. These pits sense the heat given off by warm-blooded prey. The snakes' heat vision allows the vipers to track prey day or night.” 

Say: “The first step we need to take is cross out any information that is not important. Can anyone tell me what that information is? (wait on student’s answers). Yes, we can cross out the first sentence. So what information are we left with? (wait on student’s answers). Exactly, we are left with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4thsentences. Let’s read them again and see if we can combine that information to form a topic sentence: Some snakes have pit holes in front of their eyes that allow then to detect heat from warm blooded prey, which allows them to hunt at any hour. 

 

   Students write their own topic sentence:

(pass out 2 pieces of paper to each student for them to write their topic sentences). Say: “Now class I want you to individually finish reading the article and use our rules of summarization to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you will be able to look at your paper and see a very good summary of the article as a whole. This information will help you remember the important details about snakes that we have learned today. Remember to eliminate the unimportant information that does not add to the main idea of the text. When you are summarizing, remember that you are just writing a short version of the article in your own words, while including only the important facts. So when everyone finishes all of their topic sentences, turn your paper over and put your pencils down. We will then take a short quiz to test your comprehension of this lesson. 

 

  Assessment:(Collect the student’s summaries of the article and evaluate the summarization by using this checklist):

• collected important information from the text

• significantly reduced the text from the original format

• sentence brought the ideas together from each individual paragraph

• sentences are organized correctly into essay form

 

   Quiz:(pass out a quiz to each student)

1. What does a snake’s tongue help it do? 

2. The pit holes in front of a snake’s eyes help them to detect what?

3. What do snakes inject into their prey when they bite them?

4. Every few months, what do snakes shed?

5. How many different species of snakes are there around the world?

 

Answers: smell, heat, venom, their skin, 2500 

 

References:

Snake text - https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/nature/super-snakes/

 

Paula Anderson, “Let’s Sea How to Summarize”

 

http://pea0002.wixsite.com/mysite/reading-to-learn

 

Carly Grisham: Sailing Through Summarization: 

http://carlymgrisham.wixsite.com/mscarlyreading/reading-to-learn