Reading to Learn

Rationale: Comprehension is a crucial and important step in a student’s reading development. When a student can read for comprehension, they are reading to understand the meaning and message of the text instead of decoding the words. The big thing with this is that children must learn how to read to learn. The best way to do this is by learning through summarization. Summarizing a text teaches students to pick out the most important pieces of the text they have read and to throw out the unnecessary details.

 

Materials:   Pencils for every student

                        Highlighters for every student

                        Enough copies of “Why Do Bees Buzz?” and “Mosquitoes” for the whole class

                        Blank bookmark for each student

                        White board with markers

                        Assessment checklist

                        Paper for the students to write their summaries on

                        Comprehension quiz for each student

 

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to learn how to summarize an article! We remember what we have just read by summarizing it. But how do we do this if we don’t know what summarizing even is? Summarizing means to pick out the most important information from an article, book, or any other kind of source. Today we are going to practice summarizing with an article. We are going to determine what the main idea is, what information supports the main idea, and what details we can leave out.”

2. Say: “Before we can summarize, we have to learn the rules of summarization.” Now pass out the bookmarks for the summarization rules. “Now I am going to write each rule on the board, and you will copy it onto your bookmark. Once we are done you will be able to look at your bookmark to remind you of the rules while you are reading.”

3. Say: “The first thing we are going to do after we read our article is remove the repeated information. After this, we will highlight the important information. Our last step is to write a statement that explains the main topic or concept of our article. Be sure that the main idea is supported by all of the details.”

4. Say: “Now I want you to write down any information that will fill in the blanks that you might be missing.” Allow them to look at all the sentences written on the board and be sure they have them copied down. “On the back of your bookmark, I want you to write down any information that you feel will be really important for summarizing. You might write down that your summarization must be shorter than the article. Write whatever will help you summarize the article.”

5. Say: “Now I will pass out a copy of Why Do Bees Buzz? to everyone.” Once every student has a copy, do a short booktalk on the article to draw them in. Booktalk: “Have you ever thought about the buzzing noise that a bee makes? Why in the world do they buzz? Do they make the noise with their wings…mouth…or what? Have you also every wondered about the different buzzing noises between a bee, mosquito, and a butterfly? Let’s read the article to find out!” Give the students enough time to read the article.

6. Say: “Now that we have read the article, were there any words that you did not recognize or know? What were they? Let’s name some and define them.” Define some vocab words with the students. “Now that we have done this, we need to pick out the MOST important information from this article! Is it super important that we know how many times a mosquito beats their wings per second? Sure, it is cool information, but it is not key and important information in this article. Let’s cross this sentence out with our pencils. It is, however, important to say why bees buzz so loudly over a flower. This is part of their pollination process, and we can mention this in our summary. Using your highlighter, highlight this information without highlighting the whole sentence.” Allow them to go through and pick out more important pieces of information while marking some out with a pencil and highlighting some with their highlighter. “Now that we have highlighted the important information, we must create a topic sentence. If we know that our article is about why bees buzz, we can use that for our topic sentence! Using your topic sentence and the information you have left that is highlighted, I want you to write a summary of our article. Be creative and make it your own!” Walk around the classroom and help students with their writing.

7. Say: “What do you think? Do you think you have the hang of summarizing an article? Let’s give it a try again, but this time you will be doing it on your own. What did we say was another insect that buzzed? Oh yeah, it was a mosquito!” Pass out a copy of Mosquito to every student. “I want you to read the article in full once. After you have read it, write down 5 questions that you feel is important to know from the text. Then, I want you to go back and cross out the information that is not needed with your pencil and highlight the important information. After this, create your topic sentence and then finish your summary using the rest of the information you have highlighted. Make sure to write down 5 vocabulary words that you did not know before reading this article. Using the context they are used in, write down the definition for these new vocab words. I want you working by yourself and not with a friend. When you are finished, bring it to me!”

 

Assessment:

In his/her summary, did the student…

• Delete insignificant information? YES/NO

• Highlight important information? YES/NO

• Write a topic sentence? YES/NO

• Write 3-5 good, concise sentences? YES/NO

• Choose the correct main topic for this article? YES/NO

• List 5 new vocab words with definitions at the end? YES/NO

 

After I have completed the assessment on their summary, I will ask the students these questions to assess whether they did comprehend the article or not. Some of the questions will be:

• Do both male and female mosquitoes bite?

• What do their eyes help them do?

• What kind of creatures do mosquitoes like to bite?

• What kind of areas do the female mosquitoes like to lay their eggs by?

 

References:

 

Prichard, Carly. Stung with Summarization. https://carleyprichard.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/reading-to-learn

 

Vance, Najla. Submarine Summarization! https://najlavance.wixsite.com/emergentdesign/reading-to-learn

 

Why Do Bees Buzz? Article: http://mocomi.com/why-do-bees-buzz/

 

Mosquito Article: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mosquito/#mosquito-closeup.jpg

 

Reading Genie website: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/