Rationale: In this lesson, we will focus on students reading to learn. Students need to be able to comprehend texts when learning to read which includes the ability to summarize. Students can use the about-point method to help summarize larger texts. The about-point method has students ask themselves two questions after reading the text: what is the text about and what is the main point the author is trying to make about the topic? The first question serves as the subject of the topic sentence which covers the general idea of what the text explains. The second question comes from analyzing the text at a deeper level by subordinating points from the passage. Readers must find an umbrella term that identifies the main points the author is writing about which will then become the predicate of the topic sentence. Students will learn how to summarize a specific text in this lesson by using the about-point method.

 

Materials:

1. Pencils (one for each student)

2. Paper

3. Copies of “Giraffes for Kids” article/text (one for each student)

4. Summarization checklist for the teacher

5. Comprehension quiz (one for each student)

 

Procedures:

1. Say: “Does anyone know what it means to summarize something? [Let students answer and then explain.] Summarizing is when we take all of the important parts an author makes in a text, like a book or an article, and leave behind the information that is not as important. We can’t always remember everything that happened in a story or all the facts in an article, so we use summarization to help us remember everything that was important. Today, we are going to learn more about summarization by reading a text and then narrowing down the important points by writing a few sentences to help us remember the key points the author made about the topic.”

 

2. Say: “We are going to summarize our text by using the about-point method. This method has us ask ourselves two questions after reading the article: what the text is about and what is the main point the writer is trying to make? To help us answer the second question, we need to think of an umbrella term or a category to combine all the important points made in the text.”

 

3. Say: “We are going to practice the about-point strategy with an article about giraffes! Does anyone want to share something cool they know about giraffes? [Have students answer and explain.] I know that giraffes have long necks, live in Africa, and eat lots of plants. They are a very unique animal! In the text we read, we are going to learn more about giraffes and how they live!” [Pass out article to each student.]

 

4. Say: “Before we read, we are going to talk about an unfamiliar word that some of us may not know. The unfamiliar word is awkwardly. Awkwardly means not very smooth or graceful. The opposite of awkwardly is gracefully. Gracefully means having or showing grace or elegance. Let’s see the word awkwardly in a sentence: “Sally walked really awkwardly when she waddled up the stairs after she fell and hurt herself outside. Because Sally was hurt, she walked really strange up the stairs or awkwardly.” Have you ever done something awkward in a certain situation? Raise your hand to finish this sentence: I did something awkward when…” [Call on one student to finish the sentence and explain].

 

5. Say: “Let’s read this paragraph from the article about giraffes!”

 

“Giraffes like to roam and browse for their food, with Acacia leaves and shoots making up the most of their diet. They also enjoy leaves, herbs, and vines. Despite popular belief, most giraffes do not eat very much grass. Giraffes do, however, spend a lot of their time eating in general – it has been estimated that during certain times of the year giraffes spend 75 percent of their time roaming for food and eating! Giraffes don’t need much water despite being extremely large! They only take the occasional drink (about once every few days), so they are often found far away from water sources.”

 

“We can see this paragraph is about giraffes eating and drinking habits. What are some of the points the author made? Giraffes eat leaves and don’t eat much grass or drink large amounts of water. They also spend most of their day looking for and eating food from trees and branches. After reading and recognizing the main ideas, I can combine these ideas to make a topic sentence: Giraffes spend most of their day looking for and eating food which includes lots of leaves and branches and not as much grass or water someone might expect.”

 

6. Say: “Now it’s your turn to try the about-point method using this paragraph from the article!”

 

“Both male and female giraffes have two horns on their head. These horns are called ossicones and many males giraffes have thicker, less hairy ossicones than female giraffes, due to sparring with other male giraffes. The spots on a giraffe are very distinctive, and interestingly enough, no two giraffes have the same set of spots. Just like two snowflakes or sets of fingerprints are not the same either! Now that’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Even the giraffes are telling us that being unique is awesome!”

 

“What is this paragraph telling us? It is describing the physical traits of male and female giraffes. What points is the author making? Yes, giraffes might look the same, but their spots are all different and unique to each giraffe. How can we combine both of these points? [Have students respond.] Good! Male and female giraffes both have similar traits like horns, but each giraffe has their own unique spots making no two giraffes alike!”

 

7. Say: “Now I want you to finish reading the article and use the about-point method to make your own topic sentences for each section. When you finish, you should have summarized the whole article on your own! This will help you remember the important facts about giraffes. The point of summarizing is to condense or shorten all the main points into simple sentences so remember to just pick out the meaningful information. After everyone has finished, we will take a short quiz to see what you remember about giraffes.”

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Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article and evaluate their summarization abilities with the “Summarization Assessment Checklist”.

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Summarization Assessment Checklist:

 

__ Used important information specifically from the article

__ No trivial examples from the article

__ Significantly reduced text from the original

__ Contains an idea from each section of the article

__ Organized summary into a paragraph

__ Answered both questions provided by the about-point method

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Comprehension Quiz:

1. Why do giraffes bend awkwardly when they have to drink water?

2. Do giraffes eat a lot of grass?

3. What is the difference between male and female giraffe horns?

4. How do giraffes sleep?

5. About how tall is a giraffe?

6. What is the size of an average giraffe heart?

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References:

Bruce Murray, The Reading Genie, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

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​Cool Kid Facts, Giraffes for Kids, https://www.coolkidfacts.com/giraffe-facts-for-kids/

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Lee, Hannah, Surprise! Let’s Summarize!, Reading to Learn, https://hml0015.wixsite.com/mysite-2/reading-to-learn

 

Pincheon, Emma, Summarization within Reach, Reading to Learn, https://emmapincheon13.wixsite.com/mysite/reading-to-learn

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