Rationale: The next step after learning to read fluently is comprehending what you are reading. Reading comprehension is an important literacy goal because understanding the message is the reason we read in the first place! By teaching children how to delete useless information and finding or creating a topic sentence that covers the main idea of the text, we can help readers recall information and gain reading comprehension. This lesson is designed to test comprehension skills and help students summarize text without thinking about unimportant details.

 

Materials:

• Pencil and paper for each student

• Individual copies of an article written for kids on dogonews.com (URL below)

• Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below)

 

Procedures:

1. Explain to children why summarization is important. Say: “Today we are going to work on summarizing a passage! Great readers use summarization skills to understand the meaning of what they are reading. Since you are all fluent readers, you are all capable of learning this important comprehension skill. Readers with comprehension skills don’t try to remember everything, but use summarization strategies to recall the important points of the story.”

2. Say: “When using summarization skills, we have a few guidelines to follow. First, we need to get rid of any unimportant information in the text. Next, we need to read through and delete any information that is repeated anywhere in the text. Lastly, we need to choose or create a topic sentence to begin our summary.”

3. Say: “In a few minutes, I’m going to model how I’d use these summarization guidelines with a paragraph about National ice cream month, which is the article you are going to be reading today. When is national ice cream month? Who made this a national month? How much do manufactures make? These are some of the questions you will be learning to answer today.”

4. “Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: upgrade. For something to be upgraded means to improve or make better. For example, ‘Tom wanted to upgrade his game from a Play Station to a Xbox.” Can you think of something you wanted to upgrade? Finish this sentence: Sarah upgraded her red ball to a …..”

5. “Here is a paragraph from the story:”

           

 Though “sliced bread” gets the credit, we all know that it is ice cream that deserves the honor of being the world’s best invention. That is probably why on July 9, 1984, former US President Ronald Reagan declared July, National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday of the month, National Ice Cream Day. According to Proclamation number 5219, the event should be observed “with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” This, of course, means eating as much of the creamy treat as possible.

 

This paragraph is about the how former US president Ronald Reagan who declared July, National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday of the month, National Ice Cream Day. Did you see any information that is unnecessary in this passage? Is the third sentence important to understand the message of the passage? No, so this sentence can be deleted. I am now left with, “Though “sliced bread” gets the credit, we all know that it is ice cream that deserves the honor of being the world’s best invention. That is probably why on July 9, 1984, former US President Ronald Reagan declared July, National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday of the month, National Ice Cream Day. This, of course, means eating as much of the creamy treat as possible.”

 

1. “Now I want you to use the summarizing rules we discussed on the next paragraph:

 

 To help Americans perform their civic duty, many US ice cream manufacturers have fun initiatives lined up. Baskin Robbins is commemorating the event with the launch of four delicious polar pizzas and a donation program to support the United Service Organizations. The company is also offering a free waffle upgrade to all its guests during the month of July.

 

What information is unnecessary? The first sentence can be deleted. What are we left with? “Baskin Robbins is commemorating the event with the launch of four delicious polar pizzas and a donation program to support the United Service Organizations. The company is also offering a free waffle upgrade to all its guests during the month of July.”

 

1. Say: “Now I’d like you to finish reading the article and use your summarizing skills to create a topic sentence for the remaining paragraphs. When you are finished, you will have a good summary of the article, which will help you remember the important information. Don’t summarize examples or trivia; they are only given to help you understand the main ideas. You will be writing a short version of the article in your own words, including only the important ideas to remember. Be sure to ask questions if anything is confusing about the article, we will be having a quiz after everyone finishes writing!”

 

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article, and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist:

 

______ Collected important information

______ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

______ Significantly reduced the text from the original

______ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

______ Sentences organized coherently into essay form

 

Quiz:

1. What is the article about?

2. What did former US President Ronald Reagan declare on July 9, 1984?  

3. What companies can you buy ice cream from to celebrate the month?

4. How much do manufactures make a year?

5. Why do you think the popular ice cream flavors are vanilla and chocolate?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

Related Lesson

Hall, Caroline. “Summarization Sleepover”

 http://ceh0057.wixsite.com/misshallswebsite/reading-to-learn

 

Article

Dolasia, Meera. “Rejoice! July Is National Ice Cream Month”

 https://www.dogonews.com/2016/7/4/rejoice-july-is-national-ice-cream-month

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