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Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Sequence Kindergarten Unit: Sequence Clue Words

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Teach students to identify the sequence of a story by looking at transitional words such as "first" and "then" in the book Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures by Cynthia Rylant. Learning...
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Unit Plan
Other

Elements of Fiction

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Simple discussion of the elements of fiction with a specific section devoted to Freytag's Pyramid (aka "basic plot structure"). A good place to start for gathering information on the structure of narrative.
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Activity
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy [Pdf]

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
This is a one-page nonfiction excerpt from JFK's Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961. It is followed by an open-ended question which requires students to provide evidence from the story; it includes underlining the most important...
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Handout
Washington State University

Washington State University: Julius Caesar: Act Iii

For Students 9th - 10th
Summaries of each scene in Act III of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Summarizing by Text Messaging Shakespeare

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This is a lesson in how to summarize a play by William Shakespeare, in this case Romeo and Juliet, by writing a 140-character text message for each selection that students are assigned to read. The text messages are sent to a website,...
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Graphic
BBC

Bbc: 60 Second Shakespeare: Julius Caesar

For Students 9th - 10th
Presents The Tragedy of Julius Caesar summarized in a one-page newspaper. The 'All about writing' link at the bottom takes you to a page of learning activities, e.g., how to create a photo-story or how to write a script for a 60-second...
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Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Critical Reading: Summary Skills

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This activity focuses on how to write a summary including strategies for annotation, paraphrasing the thesis statement, distinguishing major ideas from minor ones, and picking appropriate quotes. It also provides videos including "How to...
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Handout
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Purdue University Owl: Evaluating Bibliographic Citations

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry focuses on how to evaluate bibliographic citations to determine if the information is useful. It suggests looking at the author, title, summary, and timeliness of the work.
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Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Using Sources: Paraphrase and Summary

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson focuses on how to integrate source material using paraphrase and summary and the differences between the two. It also provides a practice exercise.
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Unit Plan
Colorado State University

Colorado State Writing Center: Writing Summaries

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This guide is about the many facets and considerations involved when writing a summary. Also provides the reader options for which type of summary they are interested in researching, and provides a detailed analysis of each. Th e links...
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Graphic
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Analyze Nonfiction: Central Idea [Pdf]

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
This graphic organizer will help students analyze nonfiction pieces. Students will use the graphic organizer to guide them as they identify the central idea and supporting details.
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Lesson Plan
A to Z Teacher Stuff

A to Z Teacher Stuff: Summary, Note Taking, Main Idea & Details

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
A to Z Teacher Stuff offers a lesson plan, submitted by a teacher, using different sized post-it notes to discuss summarizing, note taking, main idea, and details. RI.11-12.2 Central IdeaS/Anal/Summ
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Unit Plan
Wisc-Online

Wisc Online: Summary Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
In this learning module, students demonstrate an understanding of summary writing by reading step-by-step instructions and then summarizing short paragraphs. Examples of summaries that are poorly written, as well as those that are...
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Lesson Plan
Florida Center for Reading Research

Florida Center for Reading Research: Monitor for Understanding: Strategic

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
A lesson plan in which students complete a graphic organizer to record prior knowledge before reading, ask questions while reading, and summarize a text after reading. Materials are included. [PDF]
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Lesson Plan
Florida Center for Reading Research

Florida Center for Reading Research: Monitor for Understanding: Sum Summary! [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
A lesson plan in which students read a narrative or informational text and complete graphic organizers to help them write good summaries of the texts. Materials are included.
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Lesson Plan
Florida Center for Reading Research

Florida Center for Reading Research: Expository Text Structure: Summarizing [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
A lesson plan in which students read a text and record the main ideas and supporting details on a graphic organizer. Students then complete the organizer by writing a summary of the text. Materials are included.
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Lesson Plan
Love To Know Media

Your Dictionary: Lesson Plan for Writing a Movie Summary

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This instructional activity focuses on teaching high school students to write a movie summary that provides a plot summary without sharing too much of the storyline but includes the following: brevity, conflict, theme, tone, and...
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson:using Art to Study Plot

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine the artwork in Lasceaux Cave in France via Internet and illustrate a chapter summary from Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson in "caveman style."
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Fighting for Gender and Racial Equality

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lesson students will examine the lives of key leaders and events in the fight for gender and racial equality at the turn of the 20th century. Through this inquiry study students will choose one of these leaders or events to...
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Professional Doc
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Writing Expository Text Summaries

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This resource presents instructional practices for writing summaries of expository text in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies classes.
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Discussing "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Today we are picking apart this story and discussing it in great detail so that we can set the foundation for our comparing and contrasting activity on our Day 3 lesson.
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Lesson Plan
South Carolina Educational Television

Know It All: Summarizing Texts

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fifth graders will review what a summary is and complete a worksheet for practice. They will then write their own informational text and a peer will summarize.
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Activity
Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Doe: Curriculum Hub: Ela Guidebooks: A Lesson Before Dying: Summarize

For Students 9th Standards
Read paragraphs one and two from the prologue of Invisible Man together to establish our understanding, and then summarize the text.
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Lesson Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Ela Guidebooks: Summarizing

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This strategy helps students refine their understanding of texts to meet reading expectations and prepare for writing about texts.