READING TO LEARN

 

“FLYING INTO SUMMARIZATION”

 

 

 

 

Rationale: 

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. Students who are at this level are ready to learn strategies to better understand a text. This lesson introduces the strategy of summarization. An effective method of summarization is called about- point, which asks two critical questions about the test. 1) What is the text about? While this question is easy, it helps locate the subject that will be in your topic sentence. 2) What is the main point the writer is making about the topic? Students will have to understand which information is important and which is trivial. In summarizing, only the most important parts are included. Being able to summarize leads students into asking higher level thinking questions and comprehension. 

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Materials:

•  Individual copies of “Bald Eagle” article for each student

• Pencil and paper for each student

• Summarization checklist

• Eagle Quiz 

• Dry erase board and marker

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Procedures:

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1. Say: “Have you ever been on such a fun family trip or an unforgettable memory and want to tell your friends all about it? When you tell your friends the most important or exciting things about your trip or memory, you are summarizing! Summarization is a strategy that readers use to comprehend a book or article by only telling the most important parts through a summary. Summaries are important because you can’t remember everything, so you reduce what you read to remember the most important points that the author made about a topic.”

2. Say: One way we can summarize is by using a strategy called about-point. When we use about-point, you will ask yourself two different questions about your reading. [Write the questions on the board for students to reference]. You will answer a more simple question, “What is the text about?” and a harder question, “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?” When you answer the tough question, it will help you to identify the “umbrella term” that covers the important parts that the author has written. To find the important parts the author wrote, you must find and take away any unimportant information. It helps to cross it out so you can’t see it. When you have the answers to these questions, it will later help you to formulate your sentences, especially your topic sentence! 

3. Say: Later in this lesson, I will model how to practice the about-point strategy with a paragraph in an article called “Bald Eagle” You are going to read this article today so we can get the hang of summarization! Does anyone think they’ve ever seen a bald eagle? Did anyone know they can fly up to 10,000 feet in the air? That’s very high! We are going to learn more about bald eagles in today’s lesson.

4. Say: One of the confusing words we need to go over before we can read the article is emblem. [Write emblem on whiteboard]. An emblem is something that serves as a symbol of a national, organization, or family. For example, the bald eagle is an emblem of the United States of America! Or, an olive branch is an emblem of peace! Which of these sentences uses the word correctly: “The American Flag is an emblem of our country.” Or “The state of Alabama is an emblem of the United States.” Right, the first sentence is correct because the flag represents our entire country, the state of Alabama does not represent the entire country. Try finishing this sentence correctly: “ An emblem of my family is….” [Possible answers: a heart, a cross, etc. Let students share their responses]

5. Say: Now that we understand the word emblem, we will look at a paragraph from the article together: “Clearly recognized by its white head, brown body, and hooked yellow beak, the bald eagle has been the national emblem of the United States of America since 1782. Yet starting in the 1950s, this symbol of American patriotism began to dramatically decline in numbers due to the use of the chemical DDT. After rigorous conservation efforts by the United States government, the bald eagle successfully rejuvenated its population and can comfortably continue its role as the national bird of the US.” This paragraph introduces the bald eagle, but what is most important about it? The bald eagle has been endangered before, but the country worked hard to prevent them from being extinct. I can form a topic sentence about bald eagles from this information: Since bald eagles are the nation’s symbol, we worked hard to conserve them.

6. Say: It’s your turn to try about-point! Read these sentences: “With a 2 m (7 ft.) wing span, a weight of 3-7 kg (7-15 lb.), and an overall size of 71-96 cm (28-38 in.), the bald eagle is one of the largest raptors in the world. Living near a constant source of water, bald eagles feast on fish, ducks, snakes and turtles. They will also eat rabbits, muskrats, and dead animals. Utilizing their acute sense of sight and powerful talons, bald eagles attack their prey by swooping down on them at an angle. They can reach speeds of up to 160 km/hr (100 mph) when diving. Once they capture their prey, they use their hooked beak to pull flesh out before eating it.”

7. Say: What is this paragraph about? Good, bald eagles size and their prey! What is something important about their prey? Yes, they fly down to catch it! What is another point? Yes, their prey lives near the water! Let’s make a topic sentence with this information. Let’s try! “Bald Eagles fly down to the water to catch their prey.”

8. Say: Now, I want you to finish reading the article and write a topic sentence for each paragraph using about-point. By the time you have done this for every paragraph, you will have a very good summary about the entire article.  Your summary will help you remember the key details about bald eagles. Remember to answer both questions in about-point to help you form a topic sentence. You can look at the board for the questions if you need help. Don’t forget to only pick out the key details that the author is making in each paragraph, and to summarize those in your own words. When you are finished, you can turn your sheet into me. 

9. I will look over each student’s submission to ensure the grasped the concept of summarization. I will use the checklist below to grade with. Students will also take a short quiz to make sure they understood the article.

 

Checklist:

Student Name: ________________

1.    ____ Wrote a topic sentence for each paragraph

2.   ____ Deleted unimportant or repetitive information

3.   ____ Significantly reduced the text from original to form summary

4.   ____ Identified important points

5.    ____ Successfully conjoined the important points to form a topic sentence

 

Quiz:

1. Where do bald eagles normally live?

2. What is one animal bald eagles prey on?

3. What has to happen for a bald eagle to find a new partner?

4. What do bald eagles normally look like when they are born?

5. True or False: the bald eagle is the USA's national symbol?

 

References:

Emily Atherton -roaring into summarization

Bald eagle article

Developments Lesson Designs Spring 2020

Email Grace Loggins