​

Summarizing with Sharks!

Reading to Learn

Eva Brandon

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

Rationale: The ultimate goal of reading is comprehending what is being read. This lesson will focus specifically on students reading to learn. Summarization is one of the most important strategies for reading comprehension. In this lesson students will learn to understand the text that they have read to the point to where they can summarize it. An effective method of summarization is called about-point. This method asks two questions about the text. The first question is: What is the text about? This could seem like a simple question but it is important that the students are able to locate the topic sentence. The second question is: What is the main point the author is trying to make about the specific topic? This question is important because students must decisive which information in the text is relevant and which information is not. This method of summarization will help students think about critical questions and lead to a better understanding of the text. 

 

Materials: individual copies printed of the article “Great white Shark” linked below, pencils, lined paper, quiz with quiz questions for the end, summarization checklist

 

Procedure: 

 

1. Say: “Does anyone know what the word summarization means?” ( let the students answer) “Summarization is when we take a whole lot of information and narrow it down to the most important key parts.  For example when we read a book and want to tell a friend about it we cannot remember all of the exact words from the book to retell them but we remember this important parts that happened. If wee tried to remember every single word we would spend all day trying to remember, that is why we use a special tool called summarization in order to help us remember all of the important parts.”

2. Say: “Today we are going to learn to summarize our texts by using a summarization strategy called about-point. In order to do this we will ask ourselves two specific questions after reading the text. The first question is an easier question that asks, ‘What is the text about?’ The second question is going to be a tougher question that asks ‘ What is the main point that the author makes?’ To answer this question you have to think of an umbrella term for all important parts the author is telling you.”

3. Say: “We. Are going to practice the about-post method today with an article about Great White Sharks. What is a Great White Shark? Have you ever seen any type of sharks? Where do Great White sharks live? These are some examples of questions you will be learning to answer today.”

4. Say: “Before we begin reading today we are going to learn a key vocabulary word you will be reading: Predator. (write the vocabulary word on the white board for students to see) Predation is a relationship between two organisms in which one is being consumed so that the other can eat and gain energy. The predator is doing the eating and the prey is the organism that they are eating. Let use those words in a sentence now I will begin by giving you an example. ‘The lion, a predator chased the Zebra. The Zebra was the prey the lion was chasing.’ The example here is a lion is a predator to a Zebra. Lions chase down zebras in the wild and eat them for food.

5. Say: “Now that we understand what a predator is we are going to look at a paragraph from the Great White Shark Article and look for the word predator in it. Few creatures strike more fear in humans than the great white shark. In reality, great white shark attacks on humans are rare – and it is even rarer for one of these attacks to be fatal. However, the size of the great white shark and its efficiency as a predator add to the perpetuation of this unnecessary fear.” Say:” This is the first paragraph of the article and it introduces Great White sharks.  What is important from it? (give students a chance to answer) “The important parts are that shark attacks on humans are very rare and that they are not predator to humans because of this. We also learn that humans are scared of them because of their large size. 

6. Say: “it is now your turn to try about-point. Read the Next few sentences and then raise your hand and tell me the important information from it.

7. Say: (once they have read) What is this paragraph about? (let them answer) Yes, great! This  paragraph is about what these sharks look like, their color, shape, and how they swim. Now Let’s make a topic sentence for this paragraph. (craft a topic sentence with the students , example would be ‘Great White sharks are 4.5-6 meters long and blue and grey colored with a large dorsal fin on top.”)

8. Say: “Now students I want you to finish reading the rest of the article by yourselves and then write a topic sentence for each paragraph that includes the most important information. Do not forget to use your own words to do this. Come turn them in to me when you are done”

9. Once the students have turned their topic sentences in I will look over to make sure they each grasped the concept of summarization and I will use the checklist below to make sure…

 

1.wrote a topic sentence for each paragraph

2.did not include unimportant topic information

3. Reduced text down from the original

4. Contains a specific idea from each paragraph 

5.sentences organized in correct order

 

 

Quiz:

 

1. Are Great White Shark attacks on humans common or rare?

2. What helps Great White Sharks blend into the bottom of the ocean?

3. What is one thing that helps Great White sharks hunt?

4. Where are Great White Sharks on the food chain?

5. What are some things Great White sharks eat when they are older?

 

 

References:

 

https://animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/great-white-shark/

 

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/developments/

​

Click here to return to Insight index