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Ÿ Rationale. Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction; this lesson will teach students to comprehend text by introducing the summarization strategy. Students will discard unnecessary and redundant information, summarize multiple items and events under umbrella terms, and write a topic sentence that covers the information. Taking these steps, students will attain comprehension through the summarization strategy.

Ÿ Materials.

• Poster with summarization steps (written and pictured)

• Poster with the passage

• Notebook paper (one for each student)

• Pencil (one for each student)

• Copies of the National Geographic article on Cheetahs: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/cheetah/#ww-wild-cats-cheetahs.jpg

• Summarization checklist (one per student; see below)

• Comprehension quiz (one for each student; see below)

Ÿ Procedures for carrying out the lesson in detail, with numbered steps.

1. Say: “It’s important to understand what we’re reading, while we read!  A text has many words but we don’t need to remember all of them in order to understand what the author is telling us. Today, we are going to learn and practice three steps that will help us remember only the information that we need to understand the text!”

2. Display the poster with the three summarization steps; say: “I have a list of these three steps that you are getting to use while we practice! You will get so used to using these steps that I don’t think you’ll even need to look at them by the end of the day! Let’s read them together:

1. Cross out information that doesn’t seem to matter and that has already been said.

2. Highlight important information, and write umbrella terms on paper for items and ideas that are connected

3. Write a topic sentence that gives the main idea of what you read on your other sheet of paper!

 

1. Soon, we’re going to get to practice these three steps and read about the fastest animal in the world at the same time! Doesn’t that sound fun?! Who wants to hear a little more about the book we’re going to get to read? [book talk]: Who knows which animal is the fastest in the world? (Give them time to answer): the cheetah! The cheetah can run as fast as your mom’s car goes on the highway; it’s going to be so fun to learn about the cheetah while we practice understanding our reading with the three steps!”

2. Say, “It is important to know what the words in the passage mean, if we want to understand it! To do this, we are going to add a few words to our knowledge, before reading the passage; (locate, relate, extricate, and generate for each word).

• Words: mammal, prey, habitat, extinction

• Example: habitat; say, “let’s become familiar enough with the word habitat to where we understand what it means and use it when we speak and write!”

1. Locate: “Habitat” means “the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.” The ocean is a whale’s habitat. A person’s home is not their habitat.

2. Relate: A habitat is found in nature. It is not created or thought of by man.

3. A bear’s habitat is its cave, seaweed’s habitat is the ocean, and a worm’s habitat is the dirt.

4. I like to camp outside because the outdoors is my natural habitat.

5) Hang the poster with the passage next to that with the Summarization rules. Give each student a pencil, a highlighter, two sheets of notebook paper, and a copy of the article.

6) Say, “Let’s review the three steps that we will take, so that we’ll better comprehend this passage; read the poster along with me!

1. Cross out information that doesn’t seem to matter and that has already been said.

2. Highlight important information, and write umbrella terms on paper for items and ideas that are connected

3. Write a topic sentence that gives the main idea of what you read on your other sheet of paper!

[Have the students read the passage once out loud with me, together.] I first need to cross out information that I don’t think I need; I’m going to cross out the parenthesis in sentence one and sentence three because they don’t seem very important to the big picture. Next I will highlight the important information and come up with umbrella words that I will write on my paper; The first sentence seems most important and I think that mammal, fastest, and short distance are words that give the main idea.

Fastest mammal on land, the cheetah can reach speeds of 60 or perhaps even 70 miles (97 or 113 kilometers) an hour over short distances. It usually chases its prey at only about half that speed, however. After a chase, a cheetah needs half an hour to catch its breath before it can eat….

Last, I will write my own topic sentence under my umbrella terms: ‘Cheetahs are the fastest mammals and sprint over a short distance to catch their prey.’

7) Say: “Now it’s your turn to try! Isn’t it exciting that you are learning to understand what you reading on your own?! Let’s read the next paragraph together. We’ll walk through the three steps together, but this time you get to do the work!” [Read paragraph along with the class; incorporate lots of class discussion throughout this portion of the lesson.] Let’s read the first sentence again: cross out what you don’t think matters. What about in the next sentence?! Now finish this for the other four sentences in the paragraph, and we’ll talk about it when you finish!” [Have students share the information they crossed-out and why.] Say, “Next, let’s highlight the information that you think we need to know!” After students finish, ask, “will someone raise their hand to share what they highlighted? Did anyone have something else? Now write three or four umbrella terms using the information you highlighted! Will someone share theirs? Now I want everyone to write their own topic sentence and I want you and your table partner to share yours with each other once you both finish.” After five minutes of discussion, ask, “will a few of you share yours and the similarities and differences that yours had with your partner’s?”

Say, “I want  y’all to finish the last two paragraphs on your own, using the same sheet of paper. Once you finish, bring your paper and articles up to me!”

 

 

8) Using the paper the students turned in, evaluate each student’s work using the following checklist:

______ Collected important information

______ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

______ Significantly reduced the text from the original

______ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

______ Sentences organized coherently into essay form

 

9) Quiz:

·       1. Do cheetahs have much endurance when running 60-70 miles per hour? (No, they can do this only over short distances.)

·       2. What problem are the cheetahs facing? (They are becoming extinct.)

·       3. What does is the function of a cheetah’s excellent eyesight? (It helps it find prey during the day)

·       4. Why is the main function of a cheetah’s speed? (A cheetah uses its speed to catch its prey.)

·       5. Would you have to run faster than the cheetah in order not to be eaten, if it was chasing you? (No, you would just have to escape it while it ran out of stamina.)

 

ŸReference

“Cheetah.” Kids' Games, Animals, Photos, Stories, and More, National Geographic Kids, 31 Mar. 2014, kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/cheetah/#ww-wild-cats-cheetahs.jpg.

Paula Anderson: Let’s Sea how to Summarize

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