In this lesson, we come to a close of our reading of the book Stuart Little by E.B. White. I explain to my students that a focal point of the lesson will be the discourse and questioning in which they engage as they answer text-based questions about the book. Another focus of the lesson will be their writing a summary to close the lesson. We continue our book study of Stuart Little chapters 13 - 15. (See attached Powerpoint.) During the book study discussion, I encourage my students to use accountable talk (see attachment) and speak in complete sentences in order to further develop their speaking and listening skills.
To close the lesson, students write a 5 sentence summary of the book Stuart Little as an exit ticket. I ask students to remind me of what is contained in each sentence of the 5 sentence summary. They tell me sentence 1 is the topic sentence that contains the main idea. Sentence 2, 3, and 4 contain supporting details 1, 2, and 3. The 5th sentence is the conclusion. Summarizing is a Common Core State Standard and is a good way for students to quickly reflect on the overall content of the book. I explain to my students that summarizing is an effective way to improve their comprehension or understanding of what they read, as well as further develop their critical thinking skills.