Reading to Learn

Cheetahs Chasing Summaries

Maggie Fox

Reading to Learn

Rationale: As students advance to reading fluently and accurately, students move their reading focus to the lifelong skill of reading and comprehending the information in the text. It is important for students to learn how to summarize what they are reading, showing that they are truly comprehending what they read. This lesson will focus on reading comprehension and summarizing. Summarization is a strategy to help readers focus on the most important parts of the text. This helps readers better comprehend what they read. An effective summarization strategy is called about-point. We will learn how to comprehend texts by using specific steps that have been effective in the classroom.

Materials:

•Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about cheetahs: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/cheetah/#ww-wild-cats-cheetahs.jpg

•Pencil and paper for each student

•White Board

•Dry Erase Marker

•Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (see below)

Procedures:

1. Start the lesson by teaching the students the definition of summarization. Say: “Whenever we read a text, we won’t be able to memorize every single word because there are just too many details. Good readers don’t try to remember every word; instead, they focus on summarizing the most important points that the author is trying to make about the topic. When we break large texts into smaller chunks, the main ideas become easier to remember.

2. Pass out fill in the blank worksheet for notes and pencils for each student. Say: Now, we are going to learn the best way to summarize. Did everyone come up and receive a piece of paper to fill in the notes as we learn them? (Wait for response) Good! I am going to write the notes on the white board and I want you to copy it onto your own. Are you ready? (Wait for response) Good! The best way to summarize is to use the about-point method. In this method, there are two questions to ask yourself.

1. “What is the text about?”

2. “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?”

To answer this question, you have to think of a way to summarize all of the important points in the text. Once you form your answers, you can use them to create a topic sentence.

3. Say: In a few minutes, I am going to model how I would do the about-point method with a paragraph on cheetahs, which is what your article is about today. Have you ever seen a cheetah? How fast do they run? What do they eat? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer.

4. Say: Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that you’ll be reading: extinction. Extinction is the process of becoming extinct, or having no living members of its kinds. For example, dinosaurs are now extinct, as they were on this earth a long time ago but not anymore. Pandas are suffering from extinction because their habitat is being lost to many new cities. Dogs, however, are not suffering from extinction as more and more are being born. Which one of these animals is suffering from extinction: humans as their population is growing; gorillas who have humans affecting their environment causing many deaths; or a goldfish who has multiple babies at a time. What animals can you think of that are suffering from extinction? Finish this sentence: The cause of animals in the rainforest that are suffering from extinction is _________________. (Example answers: to many prey, weather, acid rain, etc.).

5. Here is a paragraph from the story:

“Fastest mammal on land, the cheetah can reach speeds of 60 or perhaps even 70 miles (97 or 113 kilometers) an hour over short distances. It usually chases its prey at only about half that speed, however. After a chase, a cheetah needs half an hour to catch its breath before it can eat.”

This paragraph is about how fast a cheetah can run, but what important point is the writer making? Cheetahs run really fast. Even though they run very quickly, they use a lot of energy to run so they have to catch their breath. If I put these points together, I can create a topic sentence: While cheetahs use a lot of energy to run, they have to catch their breath before they can eat their prey.

6. Now it’s your turn! I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article. This will help you remember the important facts about cheetahs. Remember, we shouldn’t summarize examples or trivia; these are only written to help you understand the main ideas. Your job is to write a short version of the article by summarizing in your own words. After everyone finishes, we will have a quiz to check for our understanding.

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article. Evaluate the responses using the following checklist:

_____ Collected important information

_____ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

_____ Text is significantly reduced from the original

_____ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

_____ Sentences are organized coherently into essay form

Quiz: