Summarizing with Sloths
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Rationale: Comprehending a text is the goal of reading. Students who are at this level of reading comprehension are better able to understand a text. This lesson introduces a strategy called about-point to help students learn to form a topic sentence by asking two questions. The about-point strategy asks: “What is the text about?” and “What is the main point the writer is making about the topic?”. By answering these two questions, students are able to more easily summarize a text.
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Materials: Individual copies of “Sloth” Article, Pencil, Paper, Summarization Checklist, Assessment Checklist, Comprehension Quiz
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Procedures:
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Say: “Has anyone ever read a book or seen a movie and told your friends about it later?”
Give students time to share a few answers. Say: “When you tell someone about something you have seen or done, you never tell every single detail. When you tell a story this way you are practicing summarization! The strategy of summarizing is something that expert readers use to comprehend a text. This is important because you don’t have to remember every single detail, only the most important parts”
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Say: “One of the ways that we can practice summarizing is by the about-point method. When you use this method, you are asking two questions. The first question is What is the text about? and the next questions is a little tougher, what is the main point the writer is making about the topic?” Write these two questions on the board so that students can see and refer back to the strategy. Say: “When you answer these questions it will help you to identify a larger term that will tell the important part of what the author is saying. This will help you to make a topic sentence.”
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Say: “Today we will practice how to use the about-point method with a paragraph from the article Sloth. You will read this article to practice summarization. Does anyone know how sloths move around?” Give students an opportunity to use arm motions and words to model how sloths move. Say: “Yes, sloths are really slow. We will learn more about them as we read the article.”
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Say: “Before we get started, let’s review some vocabulary. You need to know what the word descend means to be able to understand this article. To descend means to move or fall down. You would say that a bird descends whenever they fly back down to the ground. Can someone tell me something else that descends?” Allow time for students to answer Say: “Yes, those are all great answers, now that we know what descend means we can begin reading our article.”
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Say: “Now that we understand the words, let’s look at the paragraph from the article together. Let’s read the first paragraph, ‘Some scientists think sloths developed their slow-motion lifestyle so they would be less noticeable to predators such as hawks and cats, which rely heavily on their eyesight when hunting. The algae that grows on sloths' fur also helps them avoid predators by letting them blend in with green leaves. They rarely come down from the trees. About once every week, they descend to go to thebathroom, slowly moving about by digging their front claws into the dirt and dragging their bodies. If they are caught by a predator, sloths turn from sluggish to slugger, biting fiercely, hissing, slashing with their claws, and shrieking.’ Using about-point what is this paragraph about” Give students time to answer. Say: “Sloths move really slow, why is this so important?” Give students time to answer. Let’s think about some other main points and put them together to summarize this paragraph.
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Say: “Now it is your turn to summarize! Try reading the next paragraph ‘There are two main species of sloth, identified by whether they have two or three claws on their front feet. The two species are quite similar in appearance, with roundish heads, sad-looking eyes, tiny ears, and stubby tails. Two-toed sloths are slightly bigger and tend to spend more time hanging upside-down than their three-toed cousins, who will often sit upright in the fork of a tree branch. Three-toed sloths have facial coloring that makes them look like they're always smiling. They also have two extra neck vertebrae that allow them to turn their heads almost all the way around!’’ Say: “What is this paragraph about?” Give students time to answer. Say: “Yes, that’s correct, now what is the main point the author is trying to make?” Give students time to answer. Say: “Very good! You all have learned how to summarize!”
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Say: “Now, everyone is going to get in pairs and with your partner you will practice using the about-point method for each paragraph. Summarize the paragraphs and switch and review each other’s work with the summarization checklist and assessment checklist.
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Say: “Now that you have checked each other’s summaries go back and we are going to take the comprehension quiz. You can use the article and once your quiz is completed, turn everything in!”
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Summarization Checklist:
Did I...
____ write a topic sentence?
____ give supporting evidence?
____ write only main points?
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Assessment Checklist:
Did my partner...
___ use about-point method?
___ have a topic sentence for every paragraph?
___ used their own words?
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Comprehension Quiz:
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Where do sloths live?
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How many main species of sloths are there?
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At what pace do sloths typically move at?
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How often do they go to the bathroom?
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What do three-toed sloths facial fur look like?
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Resources:
“Sloth” National Geographic Kids Article https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/sloth/
Kaiser, Caroline. Summarization with Polar Bears.
https://cmk0052.wixsite.com/mysite/learning-to-read
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