Curated OER
Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the...
Curated OER
What's Special About Nonfiction?
Students examine the difference between nonfiction and fictional writing. They identify the characteristics of nonfiction literature and examine how a nonfiction textbook organizes information.
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
Curated OER
Researching the Past
Learners research the western movement in order to learn note taking strategies with nonfiction texts. They use the Internet to search for important information about the western movement using the Cornell Notes note-taking system. They...
Curated OER
Super Summarizer!!!
Emerging readers summarize a nonfiction text using a five step process. After a brief demonstration of the five-step method for summarizing text, they read a nonfiction article and write their own summary. A checklist of each summary is...
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
Curated OER
Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing an Author’s Argument and Text Structure
William Shakespeare: a writer, a poet, a fake? For their mid-unit assessments, scholars read an excerpt from the article "The Top Ten Reasons Shakespeare Did Not Write Shakespeare" by Keir Cutler. Next, they analyze the author's argument...
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Summarize
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the three step-process outlined by the instructor...
Curated OER
Summarize Successfully
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by the instructor...
EngageNY
Main Ideas in Informational Text: Analyzing a Firsthand Human Rights Account for Connections to Specific Articles of the UDHR
Lesson 10 in a series of human rights lessons focuses on the skills of finding evidence and summarizing. Your young readers work to compare the two texts they have read in this unit: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
Curated OER
I'm Thankful I Can Summarize
Students summarize a selected piece od nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a nonfiction article concerning Thanksgiving. They write a summary paragraph using the five step process outlined by...
Curated OER
Let's be Star Summarizers
Third graders summarize a piece of nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read for important information and summarize that information, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using...
Curated OER
Madagascar-Simply Summarized
Young scholars summarize a selected piece of text nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the four step process outlined by the...
Curated OER
Mapping Out Summarization
Students summarize a selected piece of text using a a six step process. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a selected piece of nonfiction text. They write a summary paragraph using the six step process...
Curated OER
Summarization
Students summarize a selected piece of text using the five Ws. After reviewing the correct way to read silently, students read a selected piece of nonfiction text. They write a summary paragraph using a process outlined by the instructor.
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Readers identify main ideas and supporting details using informational texts. In this literacy activity, they make predictions and read the text to find the main ideas. They use a table diagram to define the main idea and supporting...
National Math + Science Initative
Reading an Informational Text: "It All Started with Sputnik"
Sputnik was one of the greatest scientific advancements of the 1950s, and this reading lesson does it justice. Pupils start off with pre-reading questions and a video. They then read an excerpt from an article, which is accompanied by...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the checklist outlined by the instructor during...
Curated OER
Just Get to the Good Part
Young scholars summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the steps for summarization, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the six-step process outlined by the instructor during guided...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Literary Nonfiction
Fourth graders identify the literary elements of a nonfiction text. In this literary elements lesson, 4th graders read the text Piano Starts Here--The Young Art Tatum and fill in a chart that includes the events from the book....
Curated OER
Anticipation Guides Improve Reading Comprehension
Beginning with anticipation guide strategies is a powerful method for improving reading comprehension. First, list initial ideas for a topic the class will be reading about. These ideas are formulated into statements, some of which are...