This lesson is part of a series that I taught about using repeated words/first or last sentences/illustrations to summarize. Take a look at A Feast of Summaries and Make a Newspaper with Summaries to see how I used this organizer with other stories.
Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words)
Introducing the topic-setting lesson goals
Engaging students
Knowing and using text features to locate facts and analyzing how those facts are organized (RI.2.5) helps students identify the main topic of multi-paragraphs text and focus of specific paragraphs. (RI.2.2) The reader can use this information to determine what the author wants to answer, explain or describe and assess how purpose shapes content of a text. (RI.2.6)
Discuss text organization and informational text features
Explain how to summarize
Demonstrate strategy
Demonstrate how to create the project
Students use the strategy
Students write a summary
Demonstrate what they know
Wrap up and students sharing
Scaffolding and Special Education: This lesson could be scaffolded up or down, depending on student ability.
If students work in groups, a better reader could read the chapter. Otherwise, you could sit with the challenged readers and read with them. They may need help with the words and summary. I used a slate at their desk to prompt them with ideas.
For students with more ability, challenge them to use some inference and go beyond the text a bit. If the text says that ‘matter can be solids, liquids or gas’ see if they can add a detail to that. ‘Matter could be a solid, such as a desk, or liquid, such as water, or a gas, such as air.’ See if they can bolster up the vocabulary as well – use words such as property, change, or states.