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Reading to Learn (RL) Design: Reaching for Summarization!

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Rationale: To read fluently means you have mastered the goal of correctly comprehending texts. One of the most important skills to show full comprehension of a text is summarization! One particularly effective method is called about-point. About-point summarization serves to address two critical questions about the text that you are reading: “What is this text about?” and “What is the main point the writer is making about the topic?“ The first question’s answer will help you identify the topic. The second question is a little harder to answer. Because the author typically makes several points throughout a text, the reader must “superordinate” the points. This means to find a term that entails all of the main points throughout a piece of text (also called an umbrella term). The main point then becomes the predicate of the topic sentence. Once students have answered these questions, they can make a topic sentence for the text. Students will learn to use about-point summarization to summarize a text.

 

Materials:

  • Copies of article (one per student plus teacher copy)

  • Pencils

  • Paper

  • Summarization checklist for teacher

  • Comprehension checklist for teacher

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: “Today we are going to learn about summarizing! Summarizing is when we can remember important points the author makes after we read a text. It can be hard to remember all of the story, so we will use summarization strategies to help us remember some important points. As we learn summarization, we will read a text and then be able to chop it down into just a few sentences. This makes it easier to remember what the text was about.”

  2. Say: “One of the best ways to summarize is called about-point strategy. Using this strategy, each reader will ask themselves two questions: What is the text about? And What is the main point the author is trying to make? To find this, you should make an umbrella term. An umbrella term is a way to combine all of the important points that an author makes within the text.”

  3. Say: “In a little bit, we are going to use the about-point method on an article about giraffes! Reach to the sky if you’ve ever seen a giraffe! Where did you see it? What do you know about dogs? This article will teach you a bunch of information on giraffes—maybe even some facts you never learned! You’ll have to read the article to learn! [Pass out article to each student].

  4. Say: “Before we get started, we’ll talk about a new vocabulary word you will read in this article: predator. A predator is an animal that naturally preys on, or hunts, other animals! Let’s look at a sentence that has this word. ‘The octopus hides from its predators by laying in the rocks.’ So, the octopus is hiding from the other animals that hunt it by laying low in the rocks. Do you know any other predators out there? Predators of bugs or birds? Raise your hand and tell me about it!

  5. Say: “Now we are going to begin reading the article! Here is the first paragraph:

            Giraffes grow about 4 feet (1.2 meters) in their first year of life. A newborn giraffe is about 6 feet (1.9 meters) tall at birth and weighs about 150 pounds (68 kilograms). Many young giraffes, called calves, die from lion attacks during their first year of life. Once a giraffe reaches adulthood its height is often enough to protect it from lions. Adult giraffes, however, must still be careful of lions when they are bending down to drink water or rest. Usually giraffes will drink or rest in shifts so that at least one giraffe is always on the lookout for approaching predators.”

            Say: This paragraph is about giraffes. What are some of the important points the writer is trying to make? Giraffes are short when young, but grow to be very tall. Many young giraffes die from being hunted by lions. When giraffes are grown up, they are safer from lions, but still must be careful. When I combine these ideas, I make a topic sentence: A giraffe’s height when they are full grown keeps them safe from predators, but they still must be careful when resting or drinking water.

  1. Say: “Now I want you to try using the about-point strategy on a paragraph:

The giraffes' height and excellent vision give them a wide view of the grasslands where they live, making it easy to spot predators from a distance. Some scientists believe that other animals—such as zebras, antelope, and wildebeests—often congregate near giraffes to take advantage of their ability to see danger from a distance. The giraffe could be considered the early warning system of the African grasslands.”

What is this paragraph about? Yes, a giraffe’s height is a great advantage. What other points does the author make about this? Right! Their height also helps other animals. How can we combine these main points to create a topic sentence? Yes that’s perfect! A giraffe’s height is an advantage for both them and other animals because it allows them to spot predators when they are further away!

  1. Say: “Now, I want you to finish reading the article and use the about-point strategy to make your own topic sentences for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article! Now you will be able to remember the important facts about giraffes. Remember, you want to shorten the article which means you only need to pick out meaningful information. Remember to write it in your own words and we will have a quiz once everyone has finished writing!


Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article and evaluate the summarization using the following check list:

___ Contains important information

___ Ignored trivial examples from the article

___ Reduced the text from the original

___ Contained an idea from each paragraph

___ Organized summary into a paragraph

 

Quiz:

  1. Is a giraffe full grown when they are born?

  2. What do young calves die from when they are young?

  3. What advantage do adult giraffes have?

  4. Are adult giraffes completely safe from predators? Why or why not?

  5. Why is it easy for giraffes to spot predators?

  6. Do giraffes help other animals? How so?

References

https://emilyannebeau123.wixsite.com/teachingfluency/reading-to-learn

Article: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/giraffe

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