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Swimming into Summarization!

Reading to Learn

Anne Scott Turner

Rationale: Summarization is a strategy to help readers focus on the most important parts of the text. This helps readers better comprehend what they read. An effective summarization strategy is called about-point. When using this method, two questions should be asked: 1) What is the text about? Usually, this is an easy question that helps identify the topic sentence. 2) What is the main point that the writer is making about the topic? This question can be a little more challenging. Often, several points are made; the reader must decide on the overall most important message of the text. The main point will become the predicate of the topic sentence.

Materials:

Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about bottlenose dolphins

Pencil and paper for each student
Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (see below)

Procedures:

Explain to children why summarization is an important skill to learn: “Whenever we read a text, we won’t be able to memorize every single word because there are just too many details. Good readers don’t try to remember every word; instead, they focus on summarizing the most important points that the author is trying to make about the topic. When we break large texts into smaller chunks, the main ideas become easier to remember.
The best way to summarize is to use the about-point method. You must ask yourself two questions. The first question, which is also the easiest, is “What is the text about?” The tough question is “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?” To answer this question, you have to think of a way to summarize all of the important points in the text. Once you form your answers, you can use them to create a topic sentence.
In a few minutes, I am going to model how I would do the about-point method with a paragraph on bottlenose dolphins, which is what your article is about today. Have you ever seen a bottlenose dolphin? How long are they? What do they eat? How much do they weigh? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer.
Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that you’ll be reading: transmitted. Transmitted means the act of transferring something from one place to another. This could be a sickness, genes, or even things like light or sound. Another way to think about transmitting is to think of it as passing something off to someone else, or sharing something you have with someone. For example, “The window is transmitting light.” That means that I can see the light coming through the window. It is passing it along through the window into the next room. What is something else that you could be transmitted? Finish this sentence: The _______ transmits many different sounds to me. (Example answers: radio, tv, dog, etc.).
Here is a paragraph from the story:

“Each dolphin has a special whistle that it creates soon after it is born. This whistle is used for identification, just like a human’s name. Dolphins also produce high frequency clicks, which act as a sonar system called echolocation (ek-oh-low-KAY-shun).”

This paragraph is about something cool that dolphins do, but what important point is the writer making? Dolphins squeak to make noises and whistle, but what for? If I put these points together, I can create a topic sentence: Even though dolphins make really cool noises and jump high in the air, we know that is a way of communication for them.

6. Now it’s your turn! I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article. This will help you remember the important facts about dolphins. Remember, we shouldn’t summarize examples or trivia; these are only written to help you understand the main ideas. Your job is to write a short version of the article by summarizing in your own words. After everyone finishes, we will have a quiz to check for our understanding.

Assessment:

Collect each student’s summary of the article. Evaluate the responses using the following checklist:

_____ Collected important information

_____ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

_____ Text is significantly reduced from the original

_____ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

_____ Sentences are organized coherently into essay form

Quiz: