Let’s talk Summarizing! I get a lot of questions like “Isn’t August/September too early to introduce summarizing?” And I say ABSOLUTELY NOT! As long as students are guided and supported, you can introduce many different concepts at the beginning of the year. Should I expect them to do it all on their own? Of course not! But, if I provide lots of modeling and demonstration, then they will feel successful!
Here’s what summarizing looked like in 3rd grade class I visited during the second week of school. We read Pinduli, which is an absolutely PRECIOUS book. If you LOVE Stellaluna, you will LOVE Pinduli! This is one of the four books included in our Rooted in Reading August for 3rd grade.
{Directed Drawing, Vocab Cards, and Comprehension Questions are all a part of our Rooted in Reading Curriculum. Click HERE to see}
As we were reading the story, students helped me to describe Pinduli. We stopped to talk about the main character and what was going on throughout the story. We also added sticky notes to our anchor chart that contained adjectives to describe the main character. {This anchor chart can be found in THIS pack}
After reading the story we went directly into talking about the parts of a summary. We used the strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, Finally for this book. Sometimes I leave off the Finally, but since they are 3rd graders I went ahead and added that in. We used these posters to retell the story.
After verbally retelling the story, it was time to write down our summary. I kept this VERY simple. We didn’t retell every detail or go into a lot of depth with our summary. I just wanted students to get a grasp of retelling using this strategy. So, I added their ideas to the chart as we were discussing. Is it perfect? NOPE! But, it is a great introduction!
As I was charting, the students were using these summarizing flap-ups to follow along with me. We glued them to the outside of a file folder, but that’s only because I accidentally ordered a gazillion over the summer. Actually 700. But, I don’t need 700 file folders, so I am trying to use them here and there 🙂
Once students had written their summary on their flap-ups, we did a directed drawing of Pinduli. This was after we had discussed the summary and retold the story until we all had it mastered! Students put their directed drawing inside of their file folder.
We didn’t get to the writing page today, but students also stapled in a Pinduli writing sheet. This is where students will retell the story in their own words using the assistance from their SWBSTF flap-ups. Since we did that part together, I wanted something to hold the students accountable for summarizing on their own. So, they had the flaps on the outside and the writing page/directed drawing on the inside!
And that’s a wrap! If you’d like a set of summarizing freebies, you have come to the right place! I’ve got an anchor chart, summarizing posters, and flap-ups all in one easy download! Subscribe to my newsletter below and you’ll go through the steps of receiving your freebie! For the entire week of Pinduli plans click HERE!
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
19 Responses
Hey Amy,
So are you not teaching 2nd grade anymore? Are you still living in Texas? I love your ideas!
Still living in Texas. I am now helping out teachers in grade levels 1-3 and mentoring students!
Where is the document for the flaps? I have the Rooted in Reading. Was it added to it?
If you sign up for the newsletter it will come to your email 🙂
I’m looking on Pinterest for directed drawing on Kevin Henkes characters. It bring me to this page. Any help please?
Thank you!
You can find that here: http://stepinto2ndgrade.com/kevin-henkes/
Hi there! Thanks so much for the freebie. Do you know about how long it takes to get the freebie once I’ve subscribed?
It should come right away, if not, check your spam!
I would like the swbs flapbooks
If you sign up for the newsletter they will come to your email!
Amy I would love the crown idea to be in Rooted in Reading for 2nd grade. The book it would go with is the “A Bad Case of Stripes”. We did the summarizing today and my darlings loved it. I think now they need to make a crown and do the summarizing on a different book to make sure they really understand the concept. Thanks for all you do!!!
Thanks! We won’t be adding the same activities to second grade units because we don’t want to be repetitive 🙂 There are many schools that use our units in 2nd and 3rd grades so we don’t want students to have to repeat activities over the years 🙂
I signed up and I never received the email with this in it
I show that you signed up but never confirmed your email. You will want to check your spam folder 🙂
Is the October Rooted in Reading for 3rd grade about ready? We’re using the August and are really liking it at my school. I admit we are taking more than a week on a story because we really like to take time with the good vocabulary and language arts activities. We only have about 55 minutes for this block. However, we’re still sitting on the edge of our chairs waiting for the October stories and materials. Thank you so much for doing this!
It will be posted tonight 🙂
Hi Amy!
I have signed up for your email newsletter twice (I thought I already was signed up but…) but can’t find an email about the SWBST – we already did Pinduli with Rooted in Reading August but would like to do this activity as well, can you help? 🙂
Also – anxiously awaiting October! LOL
I show that you have not confirmed. Make sure you check your spam folder. Many district emails block things like this, so you may even want to use a personal email instead 🙂