Rationale: Summarization is one of the two most effective strategies for reading comprehension. The “about-point” method is an effective process for summarization that requires readers to ask two questions about the text: 1) What is the text about (the topic)? 2)What is the main point the writer is making about the topic? Typically, the author is making several points, so the reader must find a way to include all of them in one term. This becomes the topic sentence.

 

Materials: Individual copies of an article about Great White Sharks from National Geographic Kids, paper and pencil for each student, summarization checklist, comprehension quiz

 

Procedures:

1. Say: It is impossible to remember every single word and detail from a text! Good readers learn how to summarize the information they read so that they can remember the most important points about a certain topic.

2. Say: The easiest way to summarize is called “about-point.” First, you ask yourself, ‘What is this text ABOUT?’ This will help you figure out the topic of the text. Then, you ask yourself, ‘What is the main POINT the author is making about that topic?’ There may be several points that the author is making. You have to think of a word or phrase that can capture all of those points.

3. Say: We’re going to read an article from National Geographic all about Great White Sharks! Have you ever wondered what sharks eat? Or how they hunt for their food? We’re going to learn all about it when we read!

4. Say: Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that is in the article: predator. A predator is an animal that hunts, kills, and eats another animal. For example, “Lions are predators in the Savannah.” Lions hunt and eat zebras and antelopes to survive. What is more likely to be a predator: a wolf or a bunny rabbit? a cat or a mouse? Can you give me any other examples of animals that is a predator? Let's finish this sentence. A __________ is a predator that hunts smaller animals. 

5. Say: Let’s summarize the first paragraph from the article together. Follow along while I read it out loud:

“When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start. Their mother may see them only as prey.”

1. Say: Now that we’ve read the paragraph, we need to ask ourselves, what was that paragraph ABOUT? Right, that article was about baby Great White Sharks. What was the POINT t that the author was making about baby sharks? Exactly! The point was that baby sharks must leave their mom’s right after their born and be on their own. Now we can use those answers to make a topic sentence. “Baby Great White Sharks must leave their mother’s immediately after birth.”

2. Say: Now, I want you to read the last two paragraphs of the article by yourselves. Use the about-point method to write topic sentences for both paragraphs. Write the first topic sentence wrote together and the sentences for the last two paragraphs together to create a summary of the article.! Here are a few tips for your summaries: Don’t use examples or trivia in your summaries. Your summaries should be significantly shorter than the original text. Include only the most important ideas.

3. Say: After everyone has completed their summaries, you will turn them in to me. Then, we will take a short quiz over the article!

 

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary and evaluate the summaries based on the following checklist:

 

_ Collected important information

_ Ignored trivia and examples in summary

_ Significantly reduced the text from the original

_ Included topic sentences from all three paragraphs

 

Quiz:

1. True or False: Baby sharks stay with their mothers until they are a year old. (False)

2. Where are sharks located on the ocean’s food chain? (the top)

3. Are larger sharks predators or prey? (predators)

4. A shark’s favorite prey is ___ ________ . (sea mammals_

5. Sharks count on ____________ as they hunt. (the element of surprise)

 

References:

Great White Shark. National Geographic Kids, https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/great-white-shark

Bruce Murray, Using About-Point to Awaken the Main Idea

Animation: https://tenor.com/byQeD.gif

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