Waddling into Summarization
Rationale:
In this lesson, students are going to learn how to read expository texts in order to gather information. The next step after learning to read text fluently is strengthening reading comprehension while reading text for information. The teacher can assess students understanding of the text by having the student summarize it. This is important because students need to learn how to summarize material and be able to leave out unimportant information. This lesson is designed for students to practice comprehension skills and summarization without trivial details.
Materials:
Blank paper [enough for class and a few extra in case some mess up]
Classroom set of pencils
Highlighter [enough for class]
Copies of “Emperor Penguins”
Smartboard
Rubric
Comprehension Questions
Procedures:
Say: Today we are going to work on something we haven’t talked about yet! We are going to work on summarization and practice how to summarize a text. We will practice this by reading a text from National Geographic Kids about Emperor Penguins. When you are summarizing, you want to take only the most important information from the text, leaving behind the not so important information. We are going to focus on the main idea and facts that support it.”
Say: In a few minutes, I am going to pass out an article and some paper. You are going to read the text and try to summarize what you think is most important. You are going to start by getting out a highlighter and highlighting everything you think is the most important, you can even underline it if you would like. Next, you are going to find the details in the text that are repeated or unnecessary and cross them out because we do not want anything that we don’t REALLY need!! Finally, you are going to organize the information you found in step one and create a topic sentence. The main idea should be appropriate by the details.
[Pass out sheets of blank paper.] Say: I want everyone to fold their papers hotdog style and then hamburger style so that everyone has four boxes on their paper. [Demonstrate this. Then, have students hold up their paper once they have completed it, so that you can check. Students should get out a pencil once you have approved their paper.] Now that we are all ready, I want you to write down the three steps we just went over in the first box on your paper. Let’s review them in case someone doesn’t remember one! [Hold up your paper and point to where it should go. Review them aloud.] Ok children, I want you to remember that your summaries should be shorter in length than the information you are reading!
Say: Now, I am going to pass out our article for the day on Emperor Penguins! [Pass out article to each child.] [Ask the following questions and let the children answer.] How do penguins survive? Have you ever wondered how the penguin population grows? Who takes care of the baby penguin before it is born? How long does it take for a baby penguin to be born? These are some questions we are going to be able to answer correctly after reading! Let’s read the first paragraph together and summarize as a class. [Read first paragraph out loud.] I’m going to highlight/underline things that are important and cross out things that aren’t.
[Demonstrate on smartboard.] Say: We can cross out the first sentence of our paragraph because it is not important to what we are trying to learn. The second sentence says, “They survive—breeding, raising young, and eating—by relying on a number of clever adaptations.” Oh! That is important! I am going to highlight/underline it! They survive by breading, raising young, and eating.
[Ask students about what they think is the main idea of the article.] Say: This article is going to talk about male/female penguins and their babies. In the second block on your paper I want you to write down the main idea. The main idea of this text is to explain the life of a penguin. Now, let’s continue to pick out the important pieces of information from the remainder of this text. I want you to go through and read each paragraph yourself. Summarize it the best you can in the last two boxes on your piece of paper that I handed out earlier with your steps on it. Highlight/underline the important parts and cross out anything that you think isn’t important to the main idea.
[Walk around the classroom.] Say: Everyone’s looking great! Once you’ve read the entire article and have written down the main points and supporting details, I want you to write a very brief summary of the article on the back of your paper. [Give time to do this.] At the bottom of the article, I would like for you to write any vocabulary words that are new or unfamiliar to you that you learned in this article. Then, write a sentence for each new word you learned. For example, let’s looks at the word, regurgitate. This means to bring up again to the mouth. It is usually used for parents trying to feed their young. “A momma bird regurgitates her food to her babies so that they can eat.” Let’s put your knowledge to the test and try to figure out the meanings of the other vocabulary words that we found!
Possibilities: breeding, courtship, adaptations, hatched
Assessment: To conclude the lesson, students will be assessed on how well they completed his/her summaries. I will use this scoring rubric to grade the summaries for correct, adequate information:
Rubric:
Remove trivial information? Y/N
Write topic sentence? Y/N
Write 3-5 good sentences? Y/N
Select key information from the article? Y/N
Choose the correct main topic for this article? Y/N
List any new vocabulary words/definitions at the end? Y/N
Comprehension Questions: I will also ask the students a series of comprehension questions to see if they read and understood the article.
How do penguins survive? (breeding, eating, raising young)
How many eggs are laid? (one)
Who watched over the egg and where does the egg stay before it is hatched? (The male penguin and on his feet)
How long before the egg hatches? (65 days)
Who stays once the chick has been hatched? (female)
What are groups of chicks called? (crèches)
Why is December the best time for chicks to be hatched? (because the ice melts and the open waters come closer so that they can take to the seas and fish for their own food)
References:
Guide to Help with Lesson Plan:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/Entries.html
National Geographic Kids “Emperor Penguin”
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/emperor-penguin/ - emperor-penguin-group-snow.jpg
Gif: