Students practice several techniques and strategies to become better at summarizing a piece of writing. They emphasize the five "W's: who, what, where, when and why. A book of Earthquakes is read and then summarized by each of the students.

Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. As a class they read and discuss a poster of the rules for summarization, then silently a page from the book "Let's Celebrate Earth Day." Students then summarize the...

Sixth graders are introduced to the jigsaw method of summarizing text. In groups, they create their own summary and work together as a class to create just one class summary. To end the lesson, they read the class summary and review the...

Students summarize a piece of literature using the technique "mapping" in this instructional activity. The technique involves 6 main steps: delete unimportant information, delete repeated information, substitute easy terms, add a...

Fourth graders summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, 4th graders independently read a selection of their choice. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by...

Learners 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...

Young scholars practice summarizing techniques in this lesson. They listen as the teacher reads from a non-fiction article, and the class creates a story map to highlight the most important facts from the article. They use the map to...

Young scholars practice reading a text and summarizing it for their classmates. As a class, they are introduced to various ways of summerizing material and use them to summarize two articles. They are asked questions to reinforce what...

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...

Students put their reading comprehension skills to practice. In this interpreting text instructional activity, students read "Chief Red Jacket's Reply," and then respond to questions that require them to reason, infer, and analyze the...

This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...

Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...

The Cay has been criticized by groups such as the Council on Interracial Books for Children because of the way race is portrayed. Explore the argument against the book while taking the author's perspective into account. Class members...

Start off analysis of a text with a worksheet that asks pupils to complete several tasks. Class members note down a couple of characters or people and their distinguishing traits, describe the most important event, summarize the text...

After reading a text or covering a new topic, have class members fill out the four boxes on this page with facts. Individuals can use words or drawings to represent the facts.

Having this reading passage handy to assess your learners' ability to process written text, practice summary with your class, and improve reading comprehension. This passage is about the people who work at the hospital. Learners read...

Close reading doesn't mean to literally read text close to your face, but rather to pay attention to particular details in order to develop a deep and purposeful understanding of text. The first part of a five-part resource provides an...

Is there anything left to discover? Evaluate opposing sides of the debate regarding whether or not there is a future for scientific discovery. Middle and high schoolers assess quotations from the articles included to evaluate claims and...

Historical accounts of various events have proven to differ depending on the point of view of the person documenting the event. Learners read and analyze two first person accounts of acts of slave resistance seen at a southern...

Let's work together! Using the collaborative resource, scholars work in triads to begin section two of their storyboards about Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television. They then practice using linking words and phrases to...

How did the television change people's lives? Learners consider the question as they complete their storyboards about the invention of the TV, adding visual elements along the way. Then, they participate in a peer review to offer and...

What's the story? Learners create the first of four storyboards about the invention of the television, incorporating narrative techniques and descriptive details. Next, they offer and receive feedback by participating in a peer critique...

Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...

Did you the message? Scholars listen to a read aloud of The Wings of the Butterfly to summarize and determine the message of the text. They discuss the folktale and vocabulary in groups, then use a double bubble map to compare the story...