Reading Lessons

Rationale:  A good way to check student’s understanding of what they have read is to test their comprehension. One way to test a student’s comprehension is to get them to summarize a book they have read. Summarizing a story is just picking out the main ideas and emphasizing the big parts. It helps students understand better because they will focus on the main ideas the author intended rather than all the unimportant details. This lesson will help students acquire the ability to summarize a story, so they can understand the deeper meaning. Students will use the following summarization rules: delete and mark out unimportant or repeated information, find and highlight important information, and form a topic sentence from the important information.

Materials:

• Paper, pencil, and highlighter for students

• Assessment checklist (teacher use)

• Class set of “Ocean Animals Collection” by Kids National Geographic (will be reading Sea Turtles article)

• Comprehension questions printed out for each student

• Summarizing Rules Poster:

  • 1) Delete and mark out unimportant or repeated information.

  • 2) Find and highlight important information.

  • 3) Form a topic sentence from the important information.

  • 4) Find an umbrella term for the events that happen in the text

Procedure:

1. Say: Can anyone tell me if they have ever read a book that you found interesting, so you told your friend about it? Did you tell them every little detail, or did you tell them the important parts that you read? (Wait for student response). Yes, you only tell them the important parts of the story! This is called summarizing, and this skill can help us better understand the books we read, therefore making us better readers! If you can summarize a book or an article, then that lets me know you understand the material that you have read.

2. Say: So, this week we have been learning about different ocean creatures. Who can tell me some things we have learned. What are some sea creatures we’ve talked about already? [Call on student] Are all sea creatures’ fish? [Call on student] What’s the largest animal in the ocean? [Call on student]

3.  Now we are going to read the first paragraph of a new article from our National Geographic Kids: Ocean Animals Collection on Sea Turtles. Before we begin reading, let’s go over a few short rules about summarization:

   1. Delete and mark out unimportant or repeated information.

   2. Find and highlight important information.

   3. Form a topic sentence from the important information.  

   4.  Find an umbrella term for the events that happen in text

**there will be a summarization rules poster hanging at the front of the room**

1. Say: Students, I want you all to look at the rules if you’re unsure of what to do! Also, be sure that this summary is in your words! NOT your neighbors or the authors words. Summarization works best when you read slowly, reread the important parts at least once, and take notes as you read. Taking these notes will help you point out the main ideas more easily when you’re writing the summary.

2. Say: Before we begin reading, let’s go over our vocabulary words. Being familiar with new vocabulary words will help you have a better understanding of the meaning of the article.

Vocabulary list:

• Basking- a behavior that exposes the body, or a portion of the body, to the warmth of the sun. Example sentence: Snakes and turtles both bask in the sun, so they can keep their body temperatures normal.

• Flipper- the limbs of sea turtles are referred to as flippers, fore and rear flippers. Example sentence: The turtle uses his flippers to help him crawl to the beach and then swim in the ocean.

• Nest- A container or shelter in which birds, reptiles, fish, insects, or other animals deposit eggs or keep their young. Example sentence: The mother and father blue bird build a nest each year to lay their eggs.

1. Say: “Now we are going to practice summarizing with an article called "Sea Turtles" This article tells us about the Sea Turtle body, where they live, and it also describes how sea turtles go alternate between breathing air and staying underwater for extended periods of time.  Let’s read the article to find out what is so interesting about the Sea Turtle! We are going to read the first couple of sentences together. “

*Passage to read as a class*

Green sea turtles are the world’s largest species of hard-shelled sea turtle. While most individuals weigh about 300 to 400 pounds (136 to 181 kilograms), some can be as heavy as 440 pounds (204 kilograms). These turtles are found nesting along the coastline of more than 80 countries, with the largest nesting populations found in Costa Rica and Australia. Green sea turtles spend most of their lives underwater, where they can rest for up to five hours at a time before coming up for air. When active, they typically alternate between being underwater for a few minutes and coming up to the surface to breathe air for a few seconds. Green sea turtles are also known to sunbathe on land. Unlike most other sea turtles, adult green sea turtles eat a primarily plant-based diet consisting of seaweed and sea grass. Scientists believe these green foods give the sea turtle’s fat its green color.

1.  Say: Can someone raise their hand and tell me what rule number one for summarization is? [Call on student] That’s right! Delete and mark out unimportant or repeated information.  So, the first thing I want to do is pick out any information in the article that is not important. I don't think we really need to know, that they can be as heavy as 440 pounds since we know how much they typically weigh. I also don’t think we need to know the two locations where the largest populations are. Let's all take our pencil and cross those sentences out. Can someone raise their hand and tell me what rule number two for summarization is? [call on student] That’s right! Find and highlight important information! Next, we need to highlight and locate important pieces of information in the text we just read. For example, when it says, “When active, they typically alternate between being underwater for a few minutes and coming up to the surface to breathe air for a few seconds.” That’s a pretty important statement. Also, when it says, “Unlike most other sea turtles, adult green sea turtles eat a primarily plant-based diet consisting of seaweed and sea grass.” We should remember that. Let’s all take our highlighter and highlight those sentences.  Okay class we are on the last rule.  Can someone raise their hand and tell me what rule number three for summarization is please? [call on student] That’s right! Form a topic sentence from the important information. So, we need to create our topic sentence. We know the article is about Green Sea Turtles, so we could say our topic sentence is how they are the largest sea turtle in the world. On your own paper, I want you all to write the topic sentence and the rest of the information that we have left in your own words. (Walk around to scaffold the writing and check understanding.)

2. Now I want you all to follow the same steps to summarize the rest of the article. I want you to write down what you find to be important and unimportant information under the correct side of your paper to help you create a topic sentence. Please look at our summarizing poster if you need any help remembering the steps. I want you to create a topic sentence for each paragraph and when you finish, staple the article to your paper with your important/unimportant idea scratch sheet, and turn it in to our basket.

3. Will hand out comprehension questions after students turn in their summary.

Assessment: I will review each student's idea chart to determine if they could successfully summarize the different paragraphs. I will use the assessment checklist to record each child's grade. Topic sentences may vary slightly, but I will be looking to see if they child included the important information in each.

Assessment Checklist: Y (Yes) or N (No)

Student Name: ___________________________

• Did the student fill out the chart on his/her paper? _____

• Did the students come up with topic sentences for the remaining paragraphs? _____

• Did the student successfully delete unimportant/redundant information? _____

• Did the student successfully identify important parts? _____

• Did the student use the important information to come up with topic sentences? _____

Comprehension Questions:

1. Where do sea turtles live?

2. What is the biggest danger to adult sea turtles?

3. Green Sea Turtles eat a mostly plant-based diet, what do other types of Sea Turtles eat?

4. What do adult Green Sea Turtles eat?

5. Where do female Green Sea Turtles go to lay their eggs?

References

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/green-sea-turtle/#green-sea-turtle-closeup-underwater.jpg

 

Akins, Rhiannon Scuba Diving with Sharks and Summarization http://akinsrhiannon.wixsite.com/eceed/rl-design

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Engagements: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/engagements/