EngageNY
Researching Part 2: Reading for Gist and Gathering Evidence Using the Researcher’s Notebook
The gist should be short and sweet! Pupils practice finding the gist of an informational text and then write a summary of the text. Next, they gather with their research teams to discuss a focus question based on the novel Bud, Not Buddy...
Curriculum Corner
Summary Writing
Nineteen stylish worksheets offer lesson ideas and practice opportunities designed to reinforce summary skills. Scholars recall events over the weekend as well as favorite books—main characters, problems, solutions, the beginning,...
EngageNY
Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Curated OER
Writing and Presenting a Fable Using Research
Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...
Curated OER
Listening To a Guest Speaker
Pupils review the main points of note-taking to summarize the content of a formal or informal spoken presentation. They hear a guest speaker talk about a pre-arranged topic and take notes during the presentation. Next, they write a...
Curated OER
Beginning to Read
Students explore various books read by their classmates outside of school. After reading books of their choice, the class creates a bulletin board summarizing their main ideas of the book and their opinion of the book using Flat Stanley.
Curated OER
Shaking Things Up In Summarization
Students practice several techniques and strategies to become better at summarizing a piece of writing. They emphasize the five "W's: who, what, where, when and why. A book of Earthquakes is read and then summarized by each of the students.
Curated OER
Become a "Summarizer"
Students practice reading a text and summarizing it for their classmates. As a class, they are introduced to various ways of summerizing material and use them to summarize two articles. They are asked questions to reinforce what they...
Curated OER
Mapping Out Summarization
Students summarize a selected piece of text using a a six step process. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a selected piece of nonfiction text. They write a summary paragraph using the six step process...
Curated OER
What's the Main Idea?
Students summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph using the process outlined during...
Curated OER
Can you Summarize?
Learners write summaries of non-fiction articles in this lesson. They read the article silently and then pick out the main points. Students list the main events as a whole class activity, and then they individually write a summary of...
Curated OER
World War I
Using maps, diagrams, and lists, this resource is a wonderful way to review the main concepts involving WWI. There are charts with a comparison of imperialism and nationalism, and other key ideas that explain how Europe plunged into this...
Curated OER
Cloze Instruction And Herringbone Technique
Students sort out important information and create a visual framework for reviewing in the future. They organize a large quantity of information thus helping with learning and remembering details, cause and effect, comparison and...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Summarizing Puts the Pieces Together
Pupils summarize a piece of fiction. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph by creating a story map and using...
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Summarize
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the three step-process outlined by the instructor...
Curated OER
News View
Students read and analyze three different news sources that describe the same event. They compare/contrast the similarities and differences of the news sources, and write an essay describing the main event.
Curated OER
The Bear Facts About Summarization
Learners practice summarizing techniques in this lesson plan. They listen as the teacher reads from a non-fiction article, and the class creates a story map to highlight the most important facts from the article. They use the map to...
Curated OER
I'm Thankful I Can Summarize
Students summarize a selected piece od nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a nonfiction article concerning Thanksgiving. They write a summary paragraph using the five step process outlined by...
Curated OER
Let's be Star Summarizers
Third graders summarize a piece of nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read for important information and summarize that information, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using...
Curated OER
Practice Paraphrasing
Help your high schoolers identify the main idea of a passage with this lesson on paraphrasing. First rewriting a paragraph in their own words, they then underline the most important words in their paraphrase and use them in a summary....
Curated OER
Cross-Curricular Language Arts Lessons
Here are lesson ideas to begin integrating social studies content into the language arts classroom.
Curated OER
Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...