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Super Man's Summarization

Karley Franklin

Rationale:

Once the student has fully grasped the concept of learning to read correctly and fluently they must learn how to comprehend when they read to understand the meaning of the text. Therefore, children need to read to learn, understand, and comprehend, not just read to read.  In this lesson students will learn how to summarize text by eliminating trivial information that is repeated. Using this method will leave only the important facts that are needed for comprehension.

 

Materials:

  • Pencils

  • Paper

  • Highlighters

  • White board

  • Dry erase markers

  • Rubric for grading summaries

  • Overhead camera

  • Copies of the article, “China’s Ancient Army” for every student

and one for the teacher.

 

Procedures:

  • Say to class: Okay, today we are going to learn the correct way to summarize an article. The word summarize means to limit or condense the information down to only the very important parts. We are going to accomplish this by crossing out of deleting the trivial (or repeated) information. We are going to work on this skill by using two different articles. As we practice doing this, we will focus on the main idea is, all of the important facts that support the main idea, as well as what information is not useful and needs to be deleted or crossed out.

  • Say to class: Now I am passing out a plain sheet of paper. I am going to need each of you to pay very close attention to how I am going to fold it. We are going to fold it into a trifold. First, I want you all to fold the paper into a third like this (demonstrate in a clear and explicit way to make this fold) Second, we are going to take the rest of the paper and fold it again to make the rest of the trifold (demonstrate in a clear and explicit way to do this) Your piece of paper should now look like this (hold piece of paper up for all to see) I am going to walking around now just to make sure everyone folded their paper correctly. Great! Good job everyone! Now I am going to tell you why we folded the pieces of papers like we did. We will use our trifold piece of paper as a helpful study card for making a summary. This will be a useful tool when we summarize the article.

  • Next we are going to talk about how to summarize the article. Here are 3 steps that we need to know in order to be able to understand and summarize an article correctly:

 

  • We must pick out the absolute MOST important information (including details). A good way to make these points stand out is to highlight or underline them as you read.

  • Next, as we read we must point out all of the repeated details and we find unimportant. As we come across them in our readings it is easier if we simply cross them out since it is unnecessary information.

  • Lastly, we need to organize the information that we found in the first step. Once we find the main point we must also write details that support the main idea.

 

4.) Say to class: Now that we have talked about these I want you to write each of them down on a page in your study card. Does anyone remember what the first one was? That’s right! (have these pulled up on the over head projector and reveal them one at a time after you ask them what each one was for review) What about the second one we talked about? Great! Okay and the last one? Good job everyone! Y’all are catching on fast! You can also write helpful hints on your study card to help you remember fun facts about summaries.

5.) Say to class: Now before we get into our lesson we need to go over a few vocabulary words that we are going to come across in our article. Let’s talk about the first vocabulary word, sculptor. Does anyone know what a sculptor is or what they do? Lets look up the definition in a dictionary. Learner’s Dictionary the definition is a person who makes sculptures. A sculpture is a life-like person usually made of clay or something like clay. Now that we know the definition lets make up a sentence we can use this word in. Great job class! (Teacher and students will continue this same format with the words ancient and emperor.)

6.) Say to class: Now we are going to put into play what we just went over. Right now I am passing out articles about Chinese’s Ancient Army. Hearing this topic what do you think this article is about? That’s right we are going to learn about China’s Ancient Army. Do you think this article is talking about a real life army or one from the past? Think about the clue word ancient for this question. Very good! I have some very smart kids! We are going to take turns reading the first two paragraphs as a class. (Class takes turns reading the first two paragraphs) Great job guys! Now lets do some practice summarizing using the every first sentence of the first paragraph. (I will display this sentence on the overhead) In 1974, farmers digging a well in China made a surprising discovery: a life-sized statue of a soldier. Say to class” Okay first we want to find the main idea in this sentence. The main idea is most likely going to reflect the title and be mentioned numerous times throughout the article. Can anyone tell me what they think the main point is in the sentence? Yes! Awesome! The main point of this sentence is that there are life-sized statues of soldiers buried in china. Since that is the main point we should highlight or underline that part (highlight that part on the overhead projector to show class). Great job we just found the main point in that sentence. All of the other information is important but it is not necessary information right now so we can cross the rest out for the time being (cross the other parts of the sentence out on the overhead projector in order to show the class

  • Say to class: On you first page of your study card I need everyone to summarize the main idea we just talked about (demonstrate on the board which third of the paper they should use as well as what they should write). They should have written “there are life-sized statues of soldiers buried in China” The supporting detail would be, “that farmer dug a well in China and found this discovery.” Great job everyone!

  • Say to class: Now what I want everyone to do is to read the rest of the article and one paragraph at a time pick out important points. Do you very best to summarize the material as much as you can. Don’t forget to use the helpful tools of highlighting or underlining the important parts and crossing through the unimportant parts. I will be walking around the classroom to make for everyone is on task and to answer any questions. I am so proud of everyone as of right now! Y’all are doing an amazing job!

  • After you have completely read the article and have finished filling out your helpful study card I want each and every one of you to write a one- paragraph brief summary about the article. Once you have written your paragraph I want you to write five vocabulary words that you have learned from reading the article and tell me what they mean. 

Assessment:

Once everything is complete the students will be assessed by how well they did on their summaries. Below is the rubric I will use to grade their summaries: 

 

In his/her summary, did the student...

  • Cross out insignificant information?  YES / NO

  • Highlight or underline important information? YES / NO

  • Write a topic sentence?  YES / NO

  • Write 3-5 good, concise sentences?  YES / NO

  • Select important information from the article?  YES / NO

  • Choose the correct main topic for this article?  YES / NO

  • List 5 new vocabulary words/definitions at the end?  YES / NO

 

After this I will then as the students a few comprehensive questions regarding the content of the article:

  • What did the Chinese farmers dig up? A life-sized soldier

  • What was the Chinese army made of? Terra-cotta or baked clay

  • Do scientists think that these terra-cotta or baked clay soldiers were modeled after real soldiers? YES

  • What body parts of the soldiers did they examine to determine if the ancient Chinese really did model each sculpture to look like an individual person? The ear

  •  How many Chinese soldiers have they uncovered so far? About 2,000.

Reference:

 http://magazines.scholastic.com/news/2015/04/China-s-Ancient-Army

 

 http://mvs0002.wix.com/msstonesstudies#!reading-to-learn/ck5r

 

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/sculptor

 

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