Roaring into Summarization
Reading to Learn Design – Anna Bolton
Title: Roaring into Summarization
Rationale: The goal of reading fluently is to complete the gap between word recognition and comprehension. When students are able to read fluently, they are capable of summarizing texts. This is one of the most important skills for comprehending a text. In this lesson, students will learn to point out the most important pieces of information from a text in order to summarize and find an umbrella term for the important points in the text. The students will read the article “Jaguar Facts for Kids“ and ask themselves “What is the author telling me in this article?” Students are using tools to learn to summarize key points from the text in their own words by doing this.
Materials:
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Jaguar facts for kids article
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Pencil and paper
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Dry erase board and markers
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Summarization checklist
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Comprehension quiz
Procedure:
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Say- “Have you ever had something exciting happen in your life or read a good story and wanted to tell someone about it? You did not tell them every detail of that story did you? You told them the most important parts so that they could see the big picture. That is called summarizing, a strategy we use. When we summarize, we take a story or passage that we know then make it smaller into just the parts we need to know.”
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Say- “We are going to practice a summarizing strategy known as about-point. We do this by asking ourselves two questions after reading a passage. The first question is quick and easy, ‘What is this story about?’ The next question is a little more tricky, ‘What point is the author trying to make?’ I want you to write these on a white board. We will use our answers to make a topic sentence. The word we use to describe the important part that the author is trying to talk about is called the umbrella term.”
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Say- “Can anyone tell me something interesting about a jaguar?” [Wait for responses.] “The jaguar is the largest cat in the New World.” “Today we are going to read an article about jaguars to help us work on our summarization skills.”
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Say- “Before we start our article, let’s look at a vocabulary word to make sure we know what it means for better comprehension of our text. The article tells us that jaguars are carnivorous. A carnivorous mammal is an animal that mostly eats meat and that is how their food and energy is derived. What other animals would be considered carnivorous?” [Wait for responses.] “Another example could be a lion, so how could we make a sentence with the knowledge we have now using the word carnivorous?” [Wait for response.] “That’s right! Jaguars are classified as carnivorous mammals, which are animals that mostly eat meat to fulfill their food and energy needs.”
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Say- “Let’s take a look at our article together and I will help you to summarize.” ‘The jaguar, a compact and well-muscled animal, is the largest cat in the New World and the largest carnivorous mammal in Central and South America. Its coat is generally a tawny yellow, but ranges to reddish-brown, for most of the body. The ventral areas are white. The fur is covered with rosettes for camouflage in the light of its forest habitat. The spots and their shapes vary between individual jaguars. Forest jaguars are frequently darker and considerably smaller than those in open area's.’ What does this paragraph talk about? This paragraph talks about the characteristics of a jaguar. What are some things that make its characteristics important? [Wait for responses.] “That’s right! Jaguars coloring is unique and camouflage because of its habitat in a forest.” “Now, let’s combine those points to make a topic sentence for the paragraph, “Jaguars are animals that eat mostly meat and are camouflage because of its habitat in a forest.”
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Say- “Now it’s your turn to try to summarize this ‘the jaguar stands 63 to 76 cm (25 to 30 in) tall at the shoulders. Compared to the similarly colored leopard, the jaguar is bigger, heavier and relatively stocky in build. A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept at climbing, crawling, and swimming. The animal has a very powerful bite, even compared to other big cats. Because of its this jaguars can bite through armoured reptiles like caimans, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises.’ “What was this paragraph about?” [Wait for responses.] “That’s right! Jaguars have a structure so they can climb, crawl, and swim and have a very powerful bite.” “What point do you think the author was trying to make?” [Wait for responses.] “Good answer. Jaguars have a short and stocky limb structure so they can adapt and a powerful bite so they can bite through other reptiles. Now we can put that together with our topic sentence. Jaguars are animals that mostly eat meat, are camouflage because of its habitat and have a very powerful bite to eat other reptiles.”
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Say- “Now I want you to use the about-point method to summarize each paragraph. Make sure to summarize using your own words and not copying the article. Turn in your sentences to me when you are done and grab a quiz.”
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I will read each student’s page of topic sentences to see if they can correctly summarize using the checklist.
Quiz:
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What is the largest cat in the New World?
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What habitat does the jaguar live in?
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What kind of animals can the jaguar bite through?
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What does the jaguar eat?
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What kind of predator is the jaguar?
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How long does it take a jaguar to have vison after it is born?
Checklist:
Name:________
Identified what the paragraph was about. __
Identified the point the author was trying to make. __
Combined the two about-points. __
Wrote a topics sentence for each paragraph. __
References:
Hopping into Summarization by Logan Boyd
https://lolomakayla99.wixsite.com/mysite/hopping-into-summarizing
Jaguar Facts for Kids
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