Rationale: After readers are able to read fluently and accurately, the next step is understanding how to read to learn new information. This is accomplished by distinguishing important information from less important information in the text, as well as being able to grasp the overall message of the text as a whole. The point of this lesson is to teach students to summarize. In the lesson students will learn to summarize a text by highlighting the important information, crossing out information that is unnecessary, and then providing a description of the passage in a few sentences. Students will also learn another important step of summarization by assigning an umbrella term to define a series of facts and statements presented in the text.

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Materials: Construction paper (1 sheet per child); markers; vocabulary words (herbivore, acrobatic, and scampering) written on the white board; "Red Panda" Kids National Geographic Article (1 sheet per child) [below]; highlighters; whiteboards (1 per child); dry erase markers; pencils; summarization questions, comprehension questions, and assessment checklist [all below]

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Procedures:

1.  Say, "Today we are going to learn something called summarization. Do any of you know what it means to take a summary of something? [Allow time for students to give answers.] That’s right! Good readers are able to summarize by taking large sections of a text and reducing them to the most important parts. This is something that can be very helpful when we are wanting to understand and learn from what we are reading. Today we are going to practice summarizing by reading an article about some scampering Red Pandas!"

2. Say, "Before we read the article let's talk about red pandas. Does anyone already know anything about red pandas? [Allow time for students to answer]. That's right! So red pandas are more closely related to raccoons and skunks than they are to giant pandas. They also spend a lot of their lives in trees."

3. Say, “We're going to review some vocabulary before we read just to make sure we know what all the words in the article mean. The first vocabulary word is herbivore. Does anyone know what it means to be an herbivore? [Allow time for students to answer.] An herbivore is an animal that feeds only on plants, like a cow or a rabbit. Another word we’re going to review before we start is acrobatic. Acrobatic means performing or being adept at gymnastic-style feats, just like an acrobat. An example of acrobatic used in a sentence would be like, ‘The stars of the show did acrobatics in the air in front of the audience.’ The last unfamiliar word we are going to review is scampering. Do any of you know what it means to scamper? [Allow more time for students to answer]. Scampering is to run with quick-like steps, especially in fear or excitement. For example, you could say the puppies scampered across the floor to get to their food. Okay I will write all of these words on the board in case you forget what they mean. Let’s practice using them together just to make sure we understand them completely. I’m going to write a sentence on the board and I want you to write on your whiteboards what you think the correct word for the sentence is. If you’re unsure you can look to a friend or partner around your desk for help. [Write on board, ‘The gymnastic performed __________ skills at the circus,’ and allow time for students to write.] Okay, show me your boards! [Examine the answers on the boards, and if any student misses it review the word once again.] All right, now let’s try another word! [Write, ‘A horse that eats grass and hay is an example of an _________,’ and give another small period of time for students to work.] Let’s see your answers! [Once again if missed, review the word.] Okay last practice sentence! [Write, ‘The small mouse was ________ across the forest floor to get to her nest,’ and give time for students to write.] “Last time let’s see your answers!” [Correct any incorrect answers. 

4. [Hand out construction paper and markers.] Say, "The last activity we are going to do before we summarize is learn some rules that will help us become fantastic summarizing readers! These rules are short and super easy to remember, but we’re going to write them down just to make sure we don’t forget. At the top of your construction paper in whatever color you want, write ‘Rules.’ Down below number a spot #1 and then write ‘delete.’ What do you think this first rule, ‘delete,’ means? [Allow time to answer.] That’s right! As we said earlier when summarizing we don’t need to remember all of the information, only the important points. That means that we need to delete or get rid of information that we don’t think is important. Now let’s write #2. This rule is ‘shorten.’ What do we think shortening means when it comes to summarizing? [Allow time to answer.] Shortening means that we are going to take the longer sections and make them shorter, therefore easier to understand and remember, as well as quicker to find passages that are important. One method of shortening is to take a long list of items and define them through one umbrella-like term. I am going to give you an example to make sure this isn’t still confusing for you all. If I said: ‘Today in class we talked about the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.’ We could shorten this sentence to say ‘Today in class we talked about the colors of the rainbow,’ instead. The last rule we are going to write is #3. This rule is ‘Create.’ Once we delete the unimportant information and shorten the long parts we have to create a main idea sentence for the paragraph that brings together all the information."

5. Say, "We are going to practice summarizing together first, and then you all are going to do it on your own. [Hand out Red Panda article]. I have just given you each an article about Red Pandas. I am going to read the second paragraph, under the title “Forest Acrobats” out loud and you should follow along at your own desk.'Red pandas and giant pandas share a similar name - and a love for bamboo - but they aren't closely related. Scientists think that red pandas are more closely related to weasels, raccoons, and skunks. And while the giant panda spend most of their time plodding around on the ground looking for food, red pandas spend about 90 percent of their time in the trees in the misty mountains of Nepal, Myanmar, and central China where they live.' Now that we have read the article once, what do you think we should do next? [Allow time for students to answer.] That’s correct! We need to delete. I think that the first sentence is not very important, as the rest of the paragraph talks about red pandas and Giant pandas too. Also, the fact that red pandas and giant pandas love bamboo is important, but not the focus of this paragraph. So we can take our pencils and mark through this to remember it’s not a very important sentence. Now the next sentence says, ‘Scientists think that red pandas are more closely related to weasels, raccoons, and skunks.’ This sentence definitely seems more important than the first one, so we can take our highlighters and mark it to remember that it is important. Can you think of a way to use an umbrella-term to shorten the list of weasels, raccoons, and skunks? [Allow time for answers.] What if we shortened the sentence to say, 'Scientists think that red pandas are more closely related to small mammals like raccoons.' That way we classify all those animals as smaller mammals, and still provide one example."

6. Say, "Alright, and what is our last step? [Allow answers]. That's right! #3 is create! So we need to come up with a shorter sentence that captures the main idea of the paragraph. That means we want one sentence to capture the information relayed in this paragraph, but we don’t want to lose any important information. This paragraph talks about what red pandas are related to and where they live, so for my sentence I am going to want to include these important points. I will write my new sentence on the board. [Write, ‘Red pandas are closely related to smaller mammals like raccoons, and live in trees of Nepal, Myanmar, and central China.’] The new sentence removes any information that is not focused on red pandas, and shortens the information to include only the important parts.” 

7. [Pass out summarization worksheets]. Say, "Okay now that you have an idea of what summarizing a paragraph looks like, I want you to finish summarizing this article on your own. I have just passed out a worksheet that will help you summarize the rest of this article. In each column you will mark the paragraph number or paragraph title, whichever is easiest for you. Then to the left write your main idea sentence. Remember to delete information you don’t think is important by crossing it out with your pencil, highlight important information, and shorten sentences to include only the facts you need. I will walk around while you fill out your charts and finish the article in case you have any questions or need any help. After you’ve finished your article I will give you a few comprehension questions that I want you to answer based off the information you learned from the reading.” 

8. Assess students work using the Summarization worksheet and the Assessment checklist below, as well as the list of comprehension questions.

 

Resources:

 

"Red Pandas" Kids National Geographic Article

 https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-panda/

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Swinging into Summarization by Laura Sims

https://lauravlsims.wixsite.com/mssimsreadinglessons/reading-to-learn

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Rules for Summarization

https://www.winnipegsd.ca/schools/Kelvin/StudentResources/khslibrary/Documents/Rules%20for%20Summarization.pdf

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Summarization Creation Worksheet

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Assessment Checklist

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Comprehension Questions

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Worksheet for Assessment:

 

Reading Comprehension Questions 

1) What are two things that allow red pandas help while climbing trees?

2) How do red pandas get down trees?

3) What do their reddish coats and white face markings provide?

4) Why are red pandas hunted?

5) What are 'forest guardians?'

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Summarization Creation Checklist

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Partner Check Sheet

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