Remember, Remember

Read To Learn

Lindsey Goodwyn

Rationale: Once students learn how to read, they can then read to learn about information and the world around them. To do this, students need to learn how to comprehend what they are reading. For a beginning reader to reach this goal, it is necessary to learn and practice summarization strategies to identify and recall main ideas in a reading. This lesson will teach students the steps of summarization and allow them to practice these steps using resources that interest them. 



Overhead projector, pen, and highlighter tape

National Geographic article Honey Bee Mystery transparency and copy for each student (found below)

Paper, pencil and highlighter for each student

Poster with summarization steps: 1. Highlight important details 2. Scratch out repeated or unimportant details 3. Organize important parts by summarizing what you have learned

Summarization checklist (found below)



1. Introduce the lesson by discussing comprehension and summarization. "Does anyone know what it means to comprehend what you are reading? Well if I comprehend a story, I understand what it is about. So the word comprehend is kind of like a fancy word for understand. Therefore, today we are going to learn a strategy to help us comprehend or understand what we read. This strategy is called summarization. Summarization is picking out the most important information out of a book or text that you are reading. You try not to focus on the small details, but rather the main points of a selection. So let's see if we can do it together!"


2. Have a poster made listing the steps to summarization and explain to the class. "If we want to learn how to summarize we first have to learn the steps! There are three steps to summarize. First, you pick out all the important details.  Second, you find details that are repeated or that are not important to the text and get rid of them.  Third, you organize the important parts and lastly make a main idea to summarize what you have learned."


3. "Now we are going to work together on the first two paragraphs of an article from National Geographic about honeybees. Honeybees are dying and scientists are trying to find out why. To see if they figure it out read the first two paragraphs and then stop and we will read it together." Pass out copies of the National Geographic article Honey Bee Mystery and allow the student's time to read it silently. Once the students have read the first two paragraphs of the article silently, read the article aloud. Model on the overhead how to summarize using the 3 steps for summarization while the students follow along with instructions. "First we need to highlight our important details. So does anyone see any important details we can highlight? Yes, it is important to know that honey bees are dying and it is causing worry for crops. Let's highlight that! Do you see any others? What about any facts that we do not need or that are repeated in the article? We could probably cross out some of the extra examples like corn and wheat. Lets cross those out by drawing a line through them with our pencil. Ok, now that I have done my two steps I can now summarize with the important information I have left! Honey bees are dying and this is hurting the pollination of many important foods like apples that we eat. Great job!"

Excerpt from National Geographic's Article, Honey Bee Mystery:

Bees give us a lot more than delicious honey. They are pollinators they enable plants to produce the fruits and nuts we enjoy by carrying pollen from one plant or flower to the next. The wind pollinates oats, corn, and wheat, but many other plants (like apple and cherry trees and melon vines) depend on insects, bats, and birds.

Animals pollinate about one out of every three bites of food we eat.  And in the U.S., millions and millions of bees kept by human beekeepers fly around doing a lot of this important work for food crops.

Researchers do have some ideas about what could be affecting bee health. They could be sick from poisons widely used to kill insects, or they might not be getting enough good food to stay strong. Also, tiny insects called mites feed on bees. "Any or all of these things could be weakening the honey bees," explains Pettis, "and then a virus or bacteria could be doing the killing."

Pettis is hoping for a solution, because bees are so important. "Here's a good example of what pollinators like bees give us," he says. "You can eat plain oatmeal every day and get by, and oats are pollinated by the wind. But if you want to add some blueberries or strawberries or nuts to your daily oatmeal, those are the things you have to thank pollinators for. Bees are worth protecting because their work adds so much to our diet."

4. Assessment: Once the students have had enough practice working together as a class summarizing the first two paragraphs in the Honey Bee Mystery article it is important to allow them to try summarizing on their own. Give them the opportunity to finish summarizing the rest of the article on their own. "Now that you have practiced with me I want you to finish summarizing the rest of the article on your own. Remember to show me the important facts with your highlighter and cross out the unimportant or repeated facts with your pencil and then write your summary. Does anyone have any questions?" Once the students are finished collect their work and score using the following checklist:


Did the student



Mark out unimportant information



Mark out repeated information



Highlight important information



Construct a short summary that included the main idea






Honey Bee Mystery Article:

So What Did I Read by Cassie Dillard:

Sum It All Up! by Greer Montgomery:

   Super Snazzy Summaries by Sarah Daughtry:



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