Rationale:

The main goal of reading is to understand what we are reading so that we can learn from it. And summarization is a great tool we can use to help us understand texts. While reading, a skilled reader can identify key points and main ideas in whatever they are reading. And today we are going to learn this skill by deleting unimportant information and making note of what is important.

Materials:

1-Class set of the article “red-eyed tree frog” by National Geographic Kids

2-Rules of summarization to show over projector (or written large on a poster to display in the classroom)

3-Assessment chart for each student (for teacher use)

4-Colored marker for each student

5-White paper

6-Projector (optional)

Procedures:

1. Say: Have you ever read a book or story and then told your parents or your friend about what you read? When you are telling them about it, do you read them the whole book or do you just tell them what you found interesting? Shake your head three times if you tell your mom only the important parts. If you are shaking your hand, then you have already practiced summarizing. Summarizing is when you summarize the important parts of the story, or what you found interesting. And it is a skill that all good reader’s have.Today we are going to learn the specifics of how to summarize.

2. Today we are going to read and summarize an article on the red-eyed tree frog. Before we begin to practice summarization, I wanted to talk a little bit about the red-eyed tree frog. Does anyone know what a red-eyed tree frog is? Right, they are a type of frog! Do y’all think that they are big or small? Everyone show me with your hands how big you think they are? They actually are less than 3 inches long when they are all stretched out. So they are very small! Does anyone know anything else? Yes! They are green! So y’all seem to know a lot about frogs, but now we can read and learn specifics about the red-eyed tree frog.

3. Say: Now, let's talk more about summarization. Everybody take out a marker and a highlighter. I am going to pass out white paper! Firsts take the paper and lay it horizontally and then we are going to fold it twice to create three columns.  Okay, I have written our "Rules of Summarizing" up on the board. (put rules of summarization on board using projector or on a posterboard) Who can read me what the first rule of summarizing is? (Call on student). Yes, the first rule of summarizing is to delete all of the unimportant information that we read. But how do we know what is unimportant? We don’t want to keep any repeated information. Alright students, let’s write this rule at the top of the first column on your piece of paper. It can be very helpful to cross out repeated information so that we can focus on what is important. This will help you to better understand the main message the author is trying to tell you. Let's look at the second rule. The second rule is to find the important information. Now, write this rule at the top of the second column. When you find something that is important in the book or article you are reading, underline or highlight the sentence. This is so you can easily go back and see what’s important! The final rule of summarization is to make a topic sentence. So let’s write this last rule on the top of the third column on your paper. Writing a topic sentence can be tricky because you have to fit the important information into one little sentence! But I know you guys can do it!

4. Teacher says: Now we are going to practice summarizing with our “red-eyed tree frog” article. Has anyone ever seen a red-eyed tree frog in real life? Sometimes you can see them in the zoo, but naturally they only live in the south of Mexico. According to this article, they are not only interesting because of their bright colored eyes, but also because of how they use their bright eyes! Let's read more to find out why they are so interesting! Let's look at the first paragraph and part of the second paragraph of the article together: “when the frog rushes to get away, it untucks its brightly colored legs. The predator is often so surprised by these sudden flashes of color that it is momentarily confused and hesitates. And while it does, the frog has a split second to make its escape!

5. Before we start to summarize this paragraph let’s go over some vocabulary.  What are tadpoles?  That’s they are baby frogs! Baby frogs do not grow and develop in their mommy’s tummies like we do. They are born in an egg and then they grow from there. When they are born they look more like fish than a frog, and they grow and develop legs. Now that we’ve gone over some vocabulary, let’s get started! Follow along as I use my rules to summarize this paragraph. (Pull out a pre-made copy of the 3 columns on paper). Let's look at the first sentence: “When the eggs are ready to hatch, the tadpoles inside start swirling around vigorously..” what happens after the tadpole wiggles around inside the egg? That’s right, they will hatch out of the egg. It says, “The activity breaks each egg open, releasing the little tadpoles.” I’d say this is definitely important because it is telling us how the tadpole hatches from the egg. I am going to write sentence number one and two under my second column of important information. Now I want everyone to read the rest of the first paragraph and delete what is repeated, and write down what is important.

6. Now that we have found a few important facts from the reading, let's try and see if we can come up with a topic sentence. Remember, a topic sentence is one sentence that explains what the whole paragraph is talking about. I am going to look at the parts I have in column 2. Remember, column two is the important info I wrote down! Look at your second column to see what important information that we wrote down. You should read the information that you have written down and create one sentence that has all of the important information. For example, your topic sentence could be “at the beginning of the red-eyed tree frog’s life they are born in a small egg, and once they hatch and develop they become a brightly colored frog who can use those colors to survive and distract their predators.”

7. Now, I am going to let you read the remaining paragraphs and let you summarize and create topic sentences on your own. You should be using your papers to down the repeated information, the important information, and create a topic sentence. You can also look at the rules of summarization up on the board if you need any help. Each paragraph should have one topic sentence and when you are finished, I want you to staple the article to your paper with your columns, and turn it in to me.

8.  Now the teacher should review each student's column chart to determine if they could successfully summarize the different paragraphs. You will use the assessment checklist to record each child's grade. Topic sentences may vary but the general important information should also be included. And in order to ensure that the students also understood the context of the text, you should ask the comprehension questions found bellow

Comprehension questions:

1. Where does the red-eyed tree frog originate?

2. After they hatch from the egg, where do the tadpoles go?

3. What other colors does the frog possess?

Assignment Checklist:

Student Name: ___________________________

Is every column of their paper filled out?

Is there a topic sentence for every paragraph they read?

Is the repeated and unimportant information marked out?

Are the important parts successfully identified?

           

Resources:

Ready, Set, Summarize: Delaney Stephens

          http://das0032.wixsite.com/lesson-designs/reading-to-learn

Summarizing with the Big Cats: Amber Glass

          http://ang0018.wixsite.com/mysite/reading-to-learn

Book: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/red-eyed-tree-frog/#red-eyed-tree-frog-on-leaves.jpg