Skip to Main Content

Summarizing Informational Text

Lesson Plan

Summarizing Informational Text

Grade Levels

2nd Grade

Course, Subject

English Language Arts

Rationale

Summarzing text is an important comprehension process that 1) Helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them. 2) Enables students to focus on key words and phrases of text 3) Allows students to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for more concise understanding. Retelling and recounting are prerequisite skills that build the foundation for effective summarizing. Second grade emphasis is on recounting.

Vocabulary

Recount, retell, summarize, main idea, supporting detail, key word, crucial detail, informational text, nonfiction

Objectives

In this lesson, students will recount the important ideas presented in a text.  Students will:

  • Determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them
  • Focus on key words and phrases of a text that are worth noting and remembering
  • Reduce a large selection of text to its main points to demonstrate understanding 

Lesson Essential Question(s)

Big Idea:  Effective readers use appropriate strategies to construct meaning

Essential Question:  How do strategic readers create meaning from informational and literary text?

                              What it this text really about?

 

Big Idea:  Critical thinkers actively and skillfully interpret, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information.

Essential Question:  How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?

Duration

5 sessions (including 2 research sessions), 30 minutes each

Materials

The suggesed text was chosen because it features informational text that broadly appeals to children.  It presents factual information in narrative format and is supported with beautiful illustrations and vivid graphics.  When chosing appropriate text, content requirements as well as skill development should be considered.  Alternative texts exhibiting the same critieria could be substituted.

Suggested Text:

Hello, Fish!, by Sylvia A. Earle, National Geographic Society, 1999.

Alternative Texts:

Seashore Babies, by Kathy Darling, Walker and Company, 1997.

It Could Still Be a Mammal, by Allan Fowler, Children's Press, 1990

 

Method for projection of text

Charts

Fiction Text Features.docx
Fish Comparison Chart.docx
How to Write a Summary for Informational Text.docx
MainIdeaGraphic_organizers_6_10.pdf
Nonfiction Text Features.docx
Fiction Nonfiction T Chart.docx
Non-fiction writing summary.pdf   

Rubric Info Summary.docx

Student journals

Chart paper

Sticky notes

 

 

Suggested Instructional Strategies

W:  After observing the process modeled, students will summarize informational text by determining essential ideas and consolidating key details that support them using grahic organizers.
H:  Engage students with lively and varied group interaction.  Choose texts that are geared to students' interests and prior knowledge.
E:  Provide substantial, informational text and have studens participate in multiple exposures to and close reading of that text in whole group, pairs, and individual settings.
R:  Encourage students to make predictions, take picture walks, participate in discussions, create lists, use graphic organizers, categorize information, participate in gallery walks, share with partner in turn and talks, revisit text to read closely to locate specific information and flag important details, and deepen understanding.
E:  Students will apply all they have learned and demonstrate understanding by conducting paired  research using multiple resources, follow the model presented and strategies employed, and complete their own informational piece, on topic, including main idea and relevant details.  All students' pages will be compiled into a class book.  Students will reflect on their learning and work and complete a self-evaluation rubric.
T:  Provide additional instruction and practice in summarizing informational text using appropriate reading material.  Allow students to work in small groups and pairs before independently.  Provide experiences that support students' various learning styles and modalities.
O:  Follow the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. Begin by modeling the process (I Do), move  to guided practice with support and feedback (We Do), partner practice and then independent application (You Do).

Instructional Procedures

Focus:  Summarize - identify and recount the main points in an informational text.

Session 1

Setting the Stage:  Gather the whole class and tell them that they will be spending the next few days learning how to summarize informational text.  Display one fiction and one informational book that are familiar to the children.  This will provide a visual reference for students.  Have students turn and talk to partner about several ways literature (fiction) text is different than informational (nonfiction) text. (See attached chart). Bring group back together and create a T-chart displaying the differences. Summarizing/recounting informational text is very different than summarizing/recounting literature. Talk about the need for different ways to summarize texts that present different types of information. Discuss the what, why, when, and how of summarizing.                                                                                                                            What- summarizing is telling what is most important about what you read.                                       Why - it helps readers know what is important to remember and helps you share that information with others.                                                                                                                                          When - you summarize after you have read a chunk of text with the same idea.                             How - the first thing to do when summarizing nonfiction or informational text is to tell what the text is all about - the main idea.  Then you include two or three facts that help you know that - what was the important information that the author gave you?  You can often get started by focusing on the title, pictures and the first section of the text.                                                                                       Create a chart outlining the important things to include in a summary for informational text.    

Session 2                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                  Hook:  Gather the whole class and look at the cover of the book, Hello, Fish!.  Explain that this is the text we will be using to summarize important information.  Possible questions to pose to students include:

  • what information can you gather about this book by just looking at the cover?
  • what is the title?  Why do you think the author uses the word Hello?
  • what is this book about . . . just the fish on the cover . . .  other fish?
  • who is the author?
  • who is Wolcott Henry?  Why isn't he called the illustrator?
  • where will this book take place? (setting)
  • what is a clue that helps you determine the setting? (coral reef)
  • could this be in a fish tank?  Why/why not?
  • why is the National Geographic Society logo on the cover?

Include as much story vocabulary as possible during this initial exposure to the text i.e., reef, tropical, dwellers, hovering, provoked, tentacles

Procedure:

1.  Picture Walk - project text onto large screen via transparency, whiteboard, or using any technology of choice.  Guide students on a picture walk looking at each page and discussing important/relevant information.  Have students make predictions about what will occur and how it relates to the whole book.  Example - p1.  why is this map here?  What does it show us?  What do the two colors tell us?  p2.  What do you see here, what do you think is happening?  p3.  How does the author provide information about this fish?  Continue picture walk through the book allowing students to make predictions.  Maintain focus on the entire book and author's purpose (info about fish that live in a coral reef) avoiding the pitfall of allowoing students to segment information about each fish as a story unto itself.   

2.  Read Text  - Read the book to the class.  Stop periodically and have students turn and talk with partner to confirm or revise predictions.  They must use evidence from the text to support their claim.  Connect the  information provided in the text to the text organization and key features (how do illustrations, graphics, etc. support the text?) Have students think-pair-share and answer the question - How does a reader use text and supporting features to increase comprehension?   

Session 3

3.  Discuss Text and Comprehension -  Engage students in a discussion about the main idea of the book (fish that live in the coral reef).  Begin a summary of Hello, Fish! by writing the main idea on chart paper.  Discuss the abundance of specific information about many fish.  It is important to have a way to organize all of that information.  Model this process by employing the gradual release of responsibility model (I Do-We Do-You Do) and the VIP Strategy. (The Very Important Point Strategy includes ripping a sticky note into three or four strips - fringed sticky notes.  Use a fringed strip to flag a very important point each time you find one).  Choose a fish from the book.  Reread that section to the class flagging two or three important details noted.  (Be sure to note the difference between important details and those that are just interesting.)  Use chart paper to record a list highlighting those important details/facts/features about that fish.  (Continue the model by following up with the We Do portion.) Repeat this activity for another fish this time eliciting input from the students.  Reread another section about a different fish.  Have students flag very important points as they are read.  Use another piece of chart paper to record their list.   (Complete the model with the You Do component.)  Have students work in pairs and complete this activity with a different fish.  Distriute a copy of the text and picture for one fish to each pair.  Students work with their partner and flag important points then create a list and record their information in their writing journal.  Upon completion, display student journals on tables and have students take a gallery walk looking at pictures and reading their peers' lists.  Briefly discuss common features on all lists.  Point out that this is the key informaion and is what we use to summarize text. 

4. Putting It All Together

          Summarize the Book - Compare the process used to doing a puzzle.  So far, the work we've done has involved gathering many separate puzzle pieces with information about individual fish.  It is important now, to put all of that information together to complete the puzzle and see the big picture of the book Hello, Fish!  In order to do this have students look at their lists of common attributes regarding fish living in the coral reef  (color, eyes, size, means of survival).   List ideas on the board and categorize them. (Use attached chart - Fish in the Coral Reef).  These facts are the ones that will be included in the summary.  Refer to the summary of Hello, Fish! that has already been created and includes the main idea.  Determine which of the facts will be included and the appropriate order.  Complete the summary. Have students think-pair-share with a partner about what needs to be included in an efffective summary.  Use the rubric for informational text summary and evaluate the effectiveness of the class summary. 

Sessions 4-5

5.  On Your Own                                                                                                                                                                      Pair students up to create their own informational text based on another coral reef dwelling fish.  Possiibilities are Great Barracuda, Scrawled Cowfish, Queen Anglefish, Red Lizardfish, Leopard Blenny, Spanish Hogfish, Queen Parrotfish, and Silverside.  Students will conduct research gathered from multiple resources and write an informational piece about their coral reef fish including the same features as those they previously read.  Individual student pages should be compiled into a class book.

Alternative suggestions:  Read and write about farm animals, pets, animals in the jungle, desert, etc.

Have students work with their partner to complete the informational text rubric to determine whether they included all of the components of a summary in their project. 

 Engage students in discussion about the process of summarizing and their understanding and control of the ideas and concepts presented.  Have students think-pair-share with a partner about what they learned, how well they participated and what they will do next time they summarize.

 Exit slip:  Tell someone how to summarize an informational passage.

 

 

   

Formative Assessment

Distributed and noted throughout lessons

Session 1:  Turn and talk, Partner Responses, Interactive Responses, Chart Completion,   

Session 2:  Picture Walk, Make and Share Predictions, Turn and Talk, Partner Responses, Graphic Organizers, Group Work, Chart Completion, Interactive Responses, Think-Pair-Share

Session 3:  Group Discussion, VIP Strategy, Partner Responses, Create Lists, Writing Journal, Gallery Walk, Graphic Organizers, Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (I do, We do, You do), Turn and Talk, Chart Comletion, Interactive Responses

Sessions 4 & 5: Research, Paired Interaction, Product Publication, Self-reflection and evaluation, Informational Text Summary Rubric, Think-Pair-Share, Exit Slip, Peer Collaboration/Reflection

 

Related Materials & Resources

Author

Lois Glassterrer, Literacy Coach, Hatboro Horsham School District Dr. Marge McMackin, Educator/Consultant

Date Published

January 16, 2013
Loading
Please wait...

Insert Template

Information