Summarizing Simply!

Rationale: To read fluently means you have mastered the goal of correctly comprehending texts. One of the most important skills to show full comprehension of a text is summarization. A method that helps us do that is the about-point method; The reader must ask two questions from the text. The first question is: what is the text about? The second question is: what is the main point the author is trying to make about the topic? They will find an universal overarching term that identifies all of the main points the author is writing. With these two questions and their answers, the readers can then create a topic sentence from their text. Students will learn how to summarize their text by using the about-point method after reading an article.

Materials:

· copies of the Hickory Horned Caterpillar Article

· pencils

· paper

· summarization checklist for the teacher

· comprehension checklist

1. Say: “Summarizing is when we can remember important points the author makes after we read a text. It can be hard for us to remember all of the story, so we will use summarization strategies to help us remember some important points. As we learn summarization, we will be able to reduce the text into just a few sentences making it easier to remember what the text was about.”

2. Say: “One of the best ways to summarize is called about-point strategy. Using this strategy, each reader will ask themselves two questions: What is the text about? And what is the main point the writer is trying to make? You must think of an ‘an umbrella term’ for the second question. An umbrella term is a way to combine all of the important points that the author talks about within the text.”

3. Say: “In a little bit, we are going to use the about-point method on an article about Horned Caterpillars. Raise your hand if you’ve ever seen a Horned Caterpillar. Where did you see it? What do you know about these kinds of Caterpillars? The article that we will read will teach us all about this type of caterpillar! You will have to read to find out more about these facts.” [Pass out the article to each student]

4. Say: “Before we get started, we’ll talk about a new vocabulary word you will read in this article. The vocabulary word is . Gorge when used as a verb is an action usually used in the context of eating. Gorge means to fill oneself greedily. Let’s look at this word in a sentence. ‘He began to gorge himself on Thanksgiving’. He gorged himself in the massive amounts of food in front of him on Thanksgiving. Have you ever had a time when you gorged yourself? If so, I want you to tell me about it. Raise your hand to finish the sentence: ‘I gorged myself when…’”

5. Say: “Here is a paragraph from the article:

“ Hickory horned devil caterpillars look fierce and can be almost as big as a hot dog, but they’re harmless. They have green bodies (that become turquoise as they age) and lots of prickled, orangey horn-like structures on their heads. They’re so big and fierce-looking that even chickens — which usually love to eat caterpillars — have been known to stay away from them.”

This paragraph is about Hickory horned devil caterpillars. What are some of the important points the writer is trying to make? They look fierce. They’re green and spikey, which wards off predators. They’re harmless”. When I combine these ideas, I can make a topic sentence: ‘Hickory horned devil caterpillars may have a scary exterior but they’re nothing to be afraid of .’”

6. Say: “Now I want you to try using the about-point strategy on a paragraph:

“Why do they gorge themselves before pupation? It’s their last meal ever, because as moths, they don’t eat. They don’t even have mouths that can absorb nutrients. Also, pupation could last one season or even two, depending on when the pupa senses conditions are ripe for its emergence.”

What is this paragraph about? Yes, they eat one last huge meal before that transform into moths. What are the main points that the author makes about this? You’re right! Moths don’t eat once they have transformed. Class, how could we combine all of these main points into one topic sentence [wait for a response]. Yes, that’s great! Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillars have to gorge themselves because once they transition they never eat again.”

7. Say: “Now I want you to finish reading the article and use the about-point strategy to make your own topic sentences, one for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article. Now you will be able to remember the important facts about dogs. Remember, you want to shorten the article which means you only need to pick out meaningful information. Remember to write it in your own words and we will have a quiz once everyone has finished writing.”

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article, and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist:

__ Contains important information

__ Ignored trivial and examples from the article

__ Reduced the text from the original

__ Contained an idea from each paragraph

__ Organized Summary into a paragraph

Quiz:

1. What do HHDs eat?

2. Where can you find these caterpillars?

3. What are some of the different characteristics of these HHDs?

4. What type of moth do they turn into?

5. What do they eat before they transform?