Saving with Summarization

 

 

Rationale: When becoming a stronger reader, we must be able to comprehend what we are reading. Reading comprehension is the overall goal of reading. When we read for comprehension, we are no longer reading to decode; instead, we read to learn. We are focusing on the meaning of the text. In this lesson, students will practice summarizing by deleting extra information and redundancies, recognizing the main ideas and events, finding an umbrella term for events that happen in the text and composing a message that covers what the writer is saying about the topic. 

 

Materials: 

Pencils (for each student)

Highlighters (for each student) 

Paper (for each student) 

Article- The Peanut Solution (for each student) 

Smartboard

Whiteboard 

Rubric for grading

 

Procedures: 

1. Say: Today we are going to practice summarizing what we read. Summarizing means that we take out the small details in the text and focus on the main ideas. This makes it easy to retell a story to someone. When we are summarizing, we should look for the important details, such as important characters, and main topics. Let’s practice doing this ourselves. 

2. Say: I am giving you each an article about the solution to peanut allergies. (pass out the article) Peanut allergies are very serious. This article is going to tell us about a new solution to these allergies. If you are allergic to peanuts, you can now become tolerant and not react as badly. Let’s read the first section together (teacher reads aloud   "A new treatment is being developed. It will help children who are allergic to tolerate peanuts. A child is given a tiny bit of peanut powder. For most kids, this will not cause a bad reaction."

3. Say: Who can tell me something important from the first paragraph (give students time to answer and write answers on board). Nice work! I am going to put what I think is important from the first paragraph on the board. I am going to highlight what I think is important in yellow, and cross out what is unimportant. This will help us focus on the main idea. 

 

A new treatment is being developed.  It will help children who are allergic to tolerate peanuts. A child is given a tiny bit of peanut powder. For most kids, this will not cause a bad reaction.

 

4. Say: The first sentence is telling us what the paragraph is about, the fact that there is a new treatment being developed to help with peanut allergies. This is the main idea of the paragraph and is highlighted green to help us see what is important. 

                                    "A new treatment is being developed."

            The following statements tell us supporting details about how the treatment will help people with peanut allergies. 

                                    "It will help children who are allergic to tolerate peanuts. A child is given a tiny bit of peanut powder. For most kids, this                                         will not cause a bad reaction."

 These facts are not important for summarizing because we are only looking for the main idea. I will highlight this grey because they are not the most important sentences in this paragraph. When summarizing, we only need the most important information. "A new treatment is being developed."

5. Say: Now you all are going to practice summarizing on your own. I am going to give each of you a pencil and a highlighter. Remember to do what I did on the board – cross outsmall details and highlight the main ideas. You will highlight the main ideas with your highlighter and cross out the supporting details with your pencil. You will read the whole article and highlight and cross out as you are reading.

6.  Say: When you have finished reading and marking the article, you will summarize the whole article in 4-5 sentences. Only use the information that you highlighted and summarize the whole text in your own words. Remember, a summary is restating the main ideas of the article.

7. Say: But, before we start reading, we are going to go over a few vocabulary words that you may not be familiar with. I am going to write the words and definition on the smartboard, and I want you to write them on your paper as well. Here are the words. 

• Tolerate-allow the presence of or allow (an activity) without opposing or prohibiting. We tolerate the things we do not like but cannot change; however, some places do not tolerate certain behaviors. Hospitals do not tolerate smoking inside. The do not like it, and will not allow it. Do you think I tolerate Alabama football? Yes, that is correct. I am an Auburn fan, but I don’t ban Alabama football. 

• Reaction-bodily response to or activity aroused by a stimulus. If a person has a reaction to peanuts, their eyes may itch and swell. This is called an allergic reaction. If you are allergic to gluten, will you have a reaction if you eat gluten? Yes, because you are allergic. 

8. Say: Do you think it would be helpful to not be allergic to peanuts anymore if you are currently allergic to them? I do! The article will tell us how this is possible. Now you may begin reading and summarizing the article. When you are done, I will collect your summary. Then, you will complete the open-ended questions that written on the board about the article on your own paper. I will write the questions while you are completing your summary of the article. Do your best!

 

Assessment: 

1. How will the new treatment help children who are allergic to peanuts tolerate them?

2. How does the new treatment work? 

3. Why doesn’t the powder cause a reaction? 

4. What does the treatment do for the parents?

Rubric for summary 

The student… 

Yes or No

• Crosses out unimportant, small details

• Highlighted the main ideas of the passage

• Organized summary with main ideas only

• Summary was no more than 5 Sentences 

 

References: 

Bibro, Kateryna “The Peanut Solution.” Time for Kids. https://www.timeforkids.com/g2/peanut-solution-3/

 

Jordan Westmoreland, “Sharky Summarization” https://jwestmoreland113.wixsite.com/mysite