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The Aquarium of Summarization

Reading to learn design

Kelly Jones

Rationale:

          Reading is the first step in learning. To comprehend long texts, students must practice their ability to summarize long texts. When reading, it is important for students to be able to tell the difference between important and unimportant information so that they can recall the main ideas of a passage. This lesson will teach students how to pick out the important information in a long text, summarize the text, and then demonstrate their understanding of the whole text.

Materials:

1.Pencil, black colored pencil, and highlighter for each student

2.Blank sheet of paper for each student

3.“Fishing” National Geographic Kids article for each student

4.Dry erase board with markers

5.Comprehension Questions written on board

6.Rubric for each student (filled out by teacher) - attached at bottom

7.Passage sample on smart board of aquarium article

8.Copy of article for each student

Procedure:

  1. Say: Have you ever read a book you thought was cool and wanted to tell your friends about it? Do you go and reread the entire book to a friend?  No, you just tell them the important parts, right? Does anyone know what we call this? (Give students a chance to answer) It’s called summarization! Summarizing books is very helpful when we want to recall the main ideas and the important information. It also can be very useful in helping you to understand what you just read.  So today we are going to read an article about fishing and practice our summarization skills!    

  2. Say: Before we dive into our articles, let’s talk about what we already know about aquariums.  Does anyone know any cool facts about what is in an aquarium? [Allow students to respond and write any responses on the board] Some people may think of an aquarium as a little fish tank at home, but there are aquarium exhibits that can hold up to 1 million gallons of seawater. Sometimes overseeing an aquarium can be challenging let’s read to find out why.

  3. Say: We’re going to read the first part of the story together, and I’ll show you how to summarize. Then you’ll get to summarize the rest of the story on your own.  We are going to read the story very closely. Follow along with me as I read the first part of the story.

  4. Say: Okay, who can give me a summary of what we just read?” [Give different students a chance to give their summaries and assist as needed. Jot down some of their summaries on the board] Let’s look at my copy of this paragraph on the Smart Board. 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.  [Model sample below on board]

    1. Some of the aquarium’s exhibits are hands-on for visitors, some have occasional divers, some are the size of a home aquarium, while others are several stories tall. One exhibit, the Outer Bay, holds more than 1 million gallons of seawater.

      5. Explain: To review, the main topic or first sentence tells us what the paragraph will be about. Our first sentence talked about how some aquariums are hands on for visitors, and then the paragraph tells us about different kinds aquariums. I highlighted the first sentence because it is important to know that some exhibits are hands on while others are not for peoples’ safety. I crossed out “some have occasional divers” because although it is an interesting fact it does not explain about the aquarium itself. So, some information is more important than other information in a paragraph, identifying which information is helpful is going to help you summarize more effectively. Now 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, so just do your best!

      6. Say:  Let’s read more about aquariums. I am also giving you a black colored pencil and a highlighter.  As you read, highlight details that you think are important and 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.  The main idea of this story is about the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When reading we are looking for main ideas about the aquarium, for example; the types of creatures living at the aquarium and why not to mix the fish.

      7. When you’ve finished reading and marking the story, I want you to summarize it in 6 sentences or less.  Remember to only include main ideas and details.  Don’t 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.

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

           1. Aquarist- person who works at or with aquariums. (Example sentence: Steve is an aquarist at Monterey Bay Aquarium.)

           2. Habitat- environment where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time. (Example sentence: The animal’s habitat was cold.)

      9. When you’ve finished reading and summarizing, I want you to come put your papers on the front table. Okay, now let’s get to reading and summarizing. [Allow 20-25 minutes for students to summarize]

      10. 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:

  1. How much water can the outer bay exhibit hold?

  2. Name one animal that lives at the aquarium.

  3. What kind of features do the tanks mimic?

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

Deleted unimportant details.

_____ / 1

Wrote a short paragraph summarizing most important details from the article.

____ / 4

Total Points and comments:

______ / 10

References:

Article:

     Curator of Husbandry Operations: Steve Vogel, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/news/real-world-geography-steve-vogel/

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