Arctic Summaries!

A Reading to Learn Lesson Design

Rationale:

The ultimate goal of reading is to teach children reading comprehension. After learning to read accurately and fluently students will then transition into reading to learn. This lesson is designed to teach students to read to learn by using summarization. Summarization is a helpful strategy in reading comprehension. This lesson helps students learn how to find those main ideas and key details in a text by having the teacher model summarization and then by summarizing on their own. After the students learn how to summarize on their own, they will be assessed on their summarization skills through comprehension questions at the end of the lesson.

Materials:

Pencils
Paper
Highlighter
Black colored pencil (can be used to mark the passage)
Dry-erase board and dry-erase markers
Passage sample on SmartBoard from “National Geographic for Kids: Arctic Fox” The first paragraph.
Classroom copies of full article: “National Geographic for Kids: Arctic Fox”
Assessment Comprehension Questions
Rubric to assess summarization

Procedures:

1. Say: “Alright class, today we are going to talk about summarization. What do you think it means to summarize a story?” [Let students discuss for a second or they can answer individually.] “To summarize, we take the most important details of a story and put it in our own words. The important details of a story would be things such as main ideas, important characters, settings, or really important things that a character does depending on what you are reading. When you summarize a text, you are retelling the story or passage but leaving out all of the unimportant details. Summarization is often used with long books and articles. Summarization helps you break it down into something more simple and easy to remember.”

2. Say: “Now let’s work on our summarization skills. I’ve given you all an article from National Geographic about Arctic Foxes. Arctic Foxes are a very cool species of fox that have such neat qualities and characteristics. Let’s take a look at our article to learn more. Now, we’re going to read the first paragraph together, and I’ll show you how to summarize. Then you’ll get to summarize the rest of the article on your own! We’re going to be investigative scientists as we read this article and see what we can learn about Arctic F0xes that we didn’t already know. Follow along with me as I read the first paragraph out loud.” [Read the first paragraph aloud.]

3. Say: “Now let’s take a look at my copy of this paragraph about Arctic Foxes on the SmartBoard. Notice how I highlighted important details and crossed out details that were not important. That helps me keep facts straight and the main idea in mind so I can summarize.” [Model sample below on SmartBoard.] “Doing this can help you comprehend, or understand, the most important parts of all sentences you read in any text as well.”

First Paragraph Below:

”Not far from the North Pole, the world is frozen for thousands of miles. Suddenly a snowy mound wiggles and reveals two dark eyes. The lump is transformed into the furry white body of a lone arctic fox. The canine casually shakes the blanket of snow off her thick coat—the key to her survival. But warm fur alone might not keep this fox alive during the polar winter, when temperatures rarely get above zero degrees Fahrenheit. Until spring arrives, this arctic fox will rely on some freeze-defying strategies, making it a champion of the cold.”

4. Explain: “Okay class, to review, the main topic or first sentence tells us what the paragraph will be about. Our first few sentences talked about how Arctic Foxes are able to blend into their white snowy surroundings and how they shake off the blanket of snow that covers them as a key to survival. The topic sentence I would make for my summarizing is: Arctic Foxes live in a snowy climate and are able to blend into their surroundings because of their white color.” And then the paragraph tells us where they live and how they are built for the arctic. It’s important for us to know where they live so I highlighted the part of the sentence where it says they live on land and sea ice, but since we don’t need to know the kilogram equivalent of that I crossed that out but since we don’t need to know how winter is different in other places, I crossed that out. Some information is more important than other information in a paragraph. Being able to identify which information is helpful is going to help you summarize more effectively. I’m going to give you all a chance to try this on your own. Remember that there’s not always a right or wrong answer with what is the most useful information, so just do your best!”

5. Say: “Now let’s read more about our friends the Arctic Foxes. I am also giving you a black colored pencil and a highlighter as a tool to help you summarize. As you read, highlight details that you think are important and that contribute to the main idea of the story. Take the black colored pencil and cross out the details that you do not think are important like I did with the first paragraph. The main idea of this story is to give you more information on Arctic Foxes. There is a lot of information on Arctic Foxes, so pick facts that are main ideas. For example, where they live, what they eat, are they endangered, etc.”

6. Say: “Before you read, let’s go over a little vocabulary that you’ll see in the passage so you’ll know what it means when you see it.” [Write these on the board as well, with an example sentence so students may refer back.]

(a.) Adaptation – a special skill that helps an animal to survive and do everything it needs to do. An example would be, “The fox uses their adaptation skills to adjust and live.”

(b.) Hibernate – a way that some animals deal with the harshness of winter. An example would be, “The bear likes to hibernate to keep them safe from the winter.”

(c.) Den - the shelter or resting place of a wild animal. An example would be, “The fox ran back into their den to see their family.”

(d.) Metabolism - chemical reactions that help us eat and keep us alive. An example would be, “The metabolism of the bear slowed down for winter.”

Say: “Now class, what does adaptation mean? [allow students to raise their hands and respond] Great! Just like you will read about how foxes adapt, humans can also adapt too! We can go through a process of adaptation when we go to a new classroom each school year. This is how adaptation can be used in a sentence: “The baby fox uses her adaptation skills to adjust to colder temperatures.”

[Now let students complete their reading and marking of the text.]

7. Say: “When you’ve finished reading and marking the story, I want you to summarize it in 4 sentences or less. Remember to only include main ideas and details. Do not include any of the details that you crossed out, only the ones that you have highlighted. Write in complete sentences and use correct punctuation. The most important thing is not to copy the text just like it is but put it in your own words. That is summarizing.”

“Now when you have finished reading and summarizing, I want you to come and put your papers on the front table. Now let’s get to reading and summarizing.” [Allow 20-25 minutes for students to summarize.]

8. “Once you have completed writing your summaries, answer the following questions about what you just read about Arctic Foxes. Make sure to use complete sentences and accurate punctuation.” [After students turn in their summarizations, hand out the comprehension questions and have them answer those on their own. Grade those for accuracy to assess their comprehension.]

Assessment:

Comprehension Questions:

1. Where do Arctic Foxes Live?

2. Their thick furry white coat keeps them warm at what temperature?

3. What is on their feet and how is it useful?

4. If a fox cannot find food, what can they do?

5. What is a cool fact about Arctic Foxes dens?

Rubric:

Student Name:

Date:

Student clearly read article all the way through and used information from different paragraphs: ____ / 3

Picked out information using methods taught in class: _____ / 2