Reading to Learn Design

Sandy Summarization

Emma Webb

Rationale:

Reading comprehension is the overall goal of reading which entails getting the overall message of a passage. To do this a reader can use summarization to get the message. In this lesson, students will learn to summarize a passage by highlighting the important information, crossing out the unnecessary information, and describing the passage in a few sentences.

Materials:

• Poster with summarization steps

• Thick sharpie marker & highlighter (for teacher)

• Highlighters (1 for each student)

• Notebook paper (2 pages for each student)

• Pencils (1 for each student)

• Summarization checklist (1 for each student)

• Comprehension quiz (1 for each student)

• Class set of How Sand Forms

Procedures:

1) Explain why summarization is important

Say: “Good readers do not try to remember every detail they read, instead they summarize. Summarizing is how we take large sections of text and reduce them to the most important parts: the gist, the key ideas, the main points, and remembering. Good readers use this strategy to remember the most important points from the author.

2) Hang summarization poster on board & review summarization steps:

Say: “We have to do three things when we summarize:

• 1st: Cross out any unimportant or repeated information (or fluff) that isn’t essential to the message of the text.

• 2nd: Find and highlight the important information that is essential to the text.

• 3rd: Form a topic sentence from the important information you highlighted.”

Say: “I am going to show you how I do these steps to summarize with a paragraph on sand which is the article that the entire class will read today.”

3) Book-talk: Who has been to the beach? (wait for hands to go up) Okay, who has ever played in a sand box? (wait again) Now, we have all seen sand, but have we ever thought where sand came from? Or how sand was made? Well, we’re going to answer those questions today!

4) Teach the class about important vocabulary in the passage:

Say: “Understanding important vocabulary in the passage is very important for reading comprehension. Together, we are going to go over a few words that you will see while reading the article on sand.” [For each word: explain the word in simple language, model how to use the word (What does it mean? What doesn’t it mean?), provide sample questions using the word, and scaffold by making a sentence using the word for students to complete.

WORDS: constantly, boulders, dissolve, minerals

Say: “Constantly is one of the words in your passage so let’s look at what it means. It means that it never stops happening. For example, we are constantly breathing. Eating, however, is not constant because we are not always eating. Which of these is an example of something that happens constantly? Grass growing or you eating candy for dinner?

5) Modeling: Put page 20 under the document camera with a poster of the summarization rules. The teacher needs a thick sharpie and highlighter. Pass out bakery article to each student along with a highlighter and pencil.

Say: “This is a paragraph from our article. I am going to show you how I summarize this paragraph. You can follow along and do it with me on your paper. Let’s go back over the summarization steps:

• 1st step: Cross out any unimportant or repeated information (or fluff) that isn’t essential to the message of the text.

• 2nd step: Find and highlight the important information that is essential to the text.

• 3rd step: Form a topic sentence from the important information you highlighted.

First, I need to cross out any unimportant or repeated information. I can cross out the fourth, seventh, and tenth sentences because these sentences aren’t important to the main idea of the paragraph. Next, I need to highlight the important information. I think that sentences 2-3, 5-6, and 8-9 are important to the paragraph so I am going to highlight these.

How Sand Forms

Nature forms sand constantly. Tiny chips of rock are always breaking off from boulders, cliffs, and mountainsides. As the weather and water wear down the chips, they create sand. This is the most common kind of sand. A second type of sand comes from living things, such as corals and clams. After the animal dies, the ocean slowly wears down its skeleton or shell into tiny particles. This type of sand is common on tropical beaches. A third type of sand comes from minerals dissolved in water. When the water dries up, it leaves behind the minerals in the form of sand-like crystals. This is the least common type of sand.

The last thing that I need to do is form a topic sentence from what I have highlighted. (Write topic sentence below the paragraph on a poster so students can see):

“There are many different types of sand, but they are all formed in a similar way.”

6) Students summarize:

Say: “Now you use the summarization rules we discussed.”

“Sand is found in many places all over the world. It collects at beaches and in lakes and rivers. It lies at the bottom of oceans. In some deserts and on some beaches, the wind blows sand into large hills called dunes. Sometimes sand gathers at the openings of deep canyons. Schools and parks often provide sandboxes for children to play in. Because sand grains are so small and light, they travel more easily than most other kinds of rock. Wind, water, and ice can carry sand far away from the place where it first formed.”

Say: “What information is not important so we can cross it out? (waits on answers from students) Yes, we can cross out the first and sixth and seventh sentences. So, what are we left with? (waits on answers from students) Right, we are left with the 2nd-5th and 8th sentences. Let’s read these sentences and see if we can combine them into one sentence to create a topic sentence:

Sand is found everywhere because it is so light and small it can easily travel great lengths.”

7) Students write their own topic sentence:

(pass out 2 pieces of paper to each student for topic sentences)

Say: “I would like for all of you to finish reading the article and use our summarizing rules to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you will have a good summary of the article. This will help you remember important facts about bakeries. Remember, don’t summarize the unimportant or repeated information. When you summarize you are writing a short version of the article in your own words while including only the important information. When everyone is finished, we will have a short quiz.”

8) Assessment:

(Collect each student’s summary of the article and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist)

• Collected important information

• Ignored trivia and examples in summary

• Significantly reduced the text from the original

• The sentence brought ideas together from each paragraph

• Sentences organized coherently into essay form

9) Quiz:

(Pass out a quiz to each student)

1) What can sand be made of?

2) How can sand be classified?

3) Name 2 places sand can be found.

4) Describe one way sand is made?

5) Large hills of sand are called what?

Answers: rock, soil, minerals, gemstone; size, color, shape, feel; beaches, lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts, canyons, parks; weather and water wear down chips, animal skeleton or shells, minerals dissolved in water; dunes

Resources:

Sand: https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/sand/400172

Emily Hethcox: Donut Forget Summarization https://ehethcox3.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/reading-to-learn

Auburn University Development

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/developments/

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