Orange County Schools
Piggybook
Summarizing text is a balancing act between being brief but thorough. You need to be short and to the point, but also cover all the important details, a task that presents a challenge for many young learners. In this lesson based on the...
College Board
The Departure
Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...
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Summarizing
Fourth graders listen to the teacher discuss the definition of "Summary." They read a story aloud with their classmates. After finishing the story, 4th graders are asked to choose the best summary statement.
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Summarization Time
Learners write summaries in this lesson. They read "Stellaluna" by Jaell Cannon independently and answer story map questions: who, what, when, where, and why. They then take the answers to these questions and write an individual summary.
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Keep It Short!
Students examine the process of summarizing text. They participate in a class discussion, and read an assigned passage from their textbook, highlighting the main points of the text. Students then write a short summary of their...
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Summarize Successfully
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by the instructor...
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Summarizing Summer
Fourth graders summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, 4th graders independently read a selection of their choice. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by...
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Short and Sweet
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the checklist outlined by the instructor during...
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Fun with Summarizing
Students practice summarization by creating a story map. After reading Freckle Juice, students working in groups, create a story map of the main events of the story. Groups use their story maps to summarize a chapter of the story and...
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Short and Sweet
Students explore how to summarize a text while reading. They discuss what it means to summarize. Students read a non-fiction text and practice summarizing the pages they read. They highlight the main ideas and important details within...
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Finding the Story Setting
Second graders discuss important things to know when reading stories, identify setting in variety of stories, create story map to record information as they are reading, state setting in their own words, discuss whether they thought...
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Story Summary
In this summarizing a story worksheet, students tell a family member about the story and write a short summary. Students answer two questions.
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What's the Big Idea
Discuss the concept of main idea in a story or other reading material. Middle schoolers identify the main idea in a passage using a technique that eliminates unnecessary words not relevant to the main idea.
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Look Who's Summarizing!
Learners summarize an article in this lesson. Students observe the teacher summarizing a short paragraph. They then look at a National Geographic KIDS and read an article. They use a highlighter to highlight important facts to be...
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Writing A Summary
Middle schoolers read short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and write summaries. In this summary writing lesson, students discuss how to write a summary. Middle schoolers then select a topic and practice writing using skills discussed.
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Compare Two Versions: Folk Tales, Sequencing, and Summary
Compare two versions of "The Three Little Pigs" (traditional and Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, told from the wolf's point of view). As your 4th graders recount the familiar version of the story, emphasize the...
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Teaching Summarization
Learning to differentiate major and minor textual events can help students learn how to summarize.
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Rosa Parks Story: Word Search
Learners find 54 words related to Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement. The answers are found at the bottom of the page. Tip: Have the class use 15 of the provided words to construct a short paragraph summarizing the events...
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Stonehenge Summarizations
Students encounter the tools they need to begin their journey of reading. They must realize that they must gain comprehension skills to comprehend the meaning behind what is being read. Students use this strategy to pull out key...
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Context Clues, Plot Structure, Conflict, and Personal Narrative Essay
What are the elements of a personal narrative? Get your class talking by reading "The Necklace" and "A Dangerous Game." The lesson focuses primarily on defining certain vocabulary terms (like context clues, plot, conflict, climax, etc.)...
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Writing A Summary - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Students explore short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this literature activity, students read one of his short stories listed and then summarize the story in a written piece.
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Essay Outline Template
The strength of this essay outline template is its specificity. By the time your young writers fill in the requested information, they are well on their way to compiling their multi-paragraph essay. Learners craft topic sentences,...
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The Tell-Tale Heart
Readers listen and critically read fictional prose to answer prediction questions at designated stopping points, and then they give a summary of the short story. This lesson is ideal for English language learners developing English...
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Successful Summarizers
Students review the concept of silent reading. Through modeling and guided practice, they explore six steps/rules of summarizing. In groups, they read a short book and then, using the summarization rules and skills, write an effective...