Reading to Learn
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Whale you learn to summarize?
Rationale: When students have learned to read fluently, students must move to the next level of reading: summarizing. Summarizing is a great way to help readers focus on the significant parts of a text and comprehend what they are reading. An effective way to summarize is to use the method called “about-point”. Two questions should always be asked when using the “about-point”: What is the text about? (This helps a reader identify the topic sentence) and What is the main point that the author is making? (This question can be more challenging because the author could be making multiple points). When the reader is considering this question, they should carefully decide which message is the MOST important. This message will ultimately become the predicate of the topic sentence.
Materials:
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Individual copies of National Geographic Kids article about Beluga Whales https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/beluga-whale
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Pencil
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Paper
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Board with modeling on it
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Summarization checklist
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Comprehension quiz
Procedures:
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First, start by explaining to your class why summarization is important. Say: “Have you ever noticed when you read a text, you are not able to immediately memorize it? It is because the text has too many words and details. A good reader understands this and uses the summarization strategy to remember important key ideas and details in the text they are reading. When a reader uses the summarization strategy, they are able to break a large text that could have hundreds of words into a few key ideas to help them remember it more easily.”
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Say: “The best way to use summarization is to use the “about-point” method. When you use the “about-point” method you ask yourself two questions. The first and easiest one is, “what is the text about?” The hardest question is, “what is the main point the writer is making about that topic?”. This question is the toughest because you have to think of a way to summarize all of the important points that the author has made. Once you form your answers you can use them to create a topic sentence.”
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Say: “In a few, I am going to model how I would the do “about-point” method with the question—What is an example of a mammal? How big is the Beluga Whale compared to other whales? Where are they mostly found? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer today!”
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Say: “Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: Carnivore. Carnivores are animals that eat flesh. This means that the Beluga Whale eat fish, crustaceans, and worms. For example, we would say “That lion is a carnivore because it eats other animals for food and energy!”. Can y’all give me any examples of some animals that are carnivores? Can y’all name any animals that are not carnivores? [Allow time for response and discussion].
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Say: “Here is a paragraph from the article: [show on board]
“These whales are common in the Arctic Ocean's coastal waters, though they are found in subarctic waters as well. Arctic belugas migrate southward in large herds when the sea freezes over.”
Say: Now, it is your turn! I want you to finish reading this article and use the “about-point” method to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. Once you finish doing this, you should have a good summary of the article. Summarizing will help you remember the important facts about Beluga Whales. Remember, we should not summarize examples or trivia; these are only written to help you understand the main points. Your job as a reader is to write a short version of the article by summarizing it in your own words. Once everyone finishes, we will have a short quiz to check our knowledge!
Assessment: Using the summarization checklist listed below, collect and evaluate each student's article summary using that criterion.
Summarization Assessment Checklist
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Collected important information
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Ignored trivia and examples in summary
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Significantly reduced the text from the article
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Topic sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph
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Sentences organized into essay form
Quiz:
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Where do Beluga Whales mostly live?
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What is the Beluga Whales life span?
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What whale is the Beluga Whale related to?
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How big are Beluga Whales?
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What is the Beluga Whales scientific name?
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Is the Beluga Whale flexible?
References:
http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/
Lexie Motes, Let's Hop into Summer and Summarize: https://lmotes0053.wixsite.com/mysite/reading-to-learn
Emily Christensen, Can We Piggie Please Summarize: https://emilybchristensen.wixsite.com/beginningreading/reading-to-learn
Class article: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/beluga-whale
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