As the title suggests, this lesson will teach students to create summaries for fictional texts.
1. Writing a Summary of Nonfiction
2. Essential Questions What is a summary? What makes a good summary? How can I write a summary of nonfiction?
3. What is a summary? A. A summary is all of the ideas from a text, written in your own words B. A summary is your opinions about a text C. A summary is a shortened form of a text, with all of the main ideas D. A summary is a review of a text, with main ideas and your opinions
4. What is a summary? A. A summary is all of the ideas from a text, written in your own words B. A summary is your opinions about a text C. A summary is a shortened form of a text, with all of the main ideas D. A summary is a review of a text, with main ideas and your opinions
5. Why do we write summaries? Readers can write a summary of a text to let someone else know the main ideas
6. Why do we write summaries? Summarizing a text helps you to understand it—as you figure out the most important ideas, your brain is engaged in understanding the text
7. Why do we write summaries? • Students often write summaries as a school assignment • Summaries are also included on tests, to see how well you understood a text
8. How long should a summary be? It depends!
9. How long should a summary be? • The length of a summary depends on the length of the original text • A summary should always be shorter than the original text
10. What makes a good summary? Here are four basic rules for writing a summary of nonfiction: Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
11. What makes a good summary? Here are four basic rules for writing a summary of nonfiction: Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
12. Include important ideas from the text This is easy to say, but sometimes hard to do! As you read, it’s important to think about what ideas are most important to the author
13. Include important ideas from the text Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
14. Which ideas are important in this text? Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
15. Which ideas are important in this text? Many butterflies depend on Even though you might have some personal certain plants to survive. As connection with some of adults, butterflies drink nectar. the ideas, you need to But caterpillars eat leaves. Some think about what’s caterpillars only eat the leaves of important to the author. specific plants. Monarch Look for the topic caterpillars, for example, eat sentences and big ideas. only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
16. Which ideas are important in this text? Many butterflies depend on Even though you might have some personal certain plants to survive. As connection with some of adults, butterflies drink nectar. the ideas, you need to But caterpillars eat leaves. Some think about what’s caterpillars only eat the leaves of important to the author. specific plants. Monarch Look for the topic caterpillars, for example, eat sentences and big ideas. only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
17. Which ideas are important in this text? Many butterflies depend on Do you agree that certain plants to survive. As these are the big adults, butterflies drink nectar. ideas in the text? But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
18. Finding important ideas • What strategies do you use to find important ideas in a text? • Why do you think this is important for summarizing?
19. What makes a good summary? Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
20. Putting ideas in your own words • Putting ideas in your own words is also called paraphrasing • Instead of just copying down the author’s words, we need to use our own words
21. Putting ideas in your own words Can you paraphrase this sentence from the text? Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive.
22. Putting ideas in your own words Hint: Try using synonyms for important words Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive
23. Putting ideas in your own words Hint: Try changing the order of ideas Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive
24. Putting ideas in your own words Here’s one way to paraphrase the sentence. How does it compare to yours? Butterflies need specific plants to live Original Text: Many butterflies depend on certain plants to
25. Paraphrasing There are some words that you can’t change when you paraphrase. These key words are the important words from the passage. For example, in the passage that we read, the words butterfly and caterpillar cannot be replaced
26. What makes a good summary? Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
27. Trivial Details Small details can be called “trivial details”—they might be interesting, but are not important to the main ideas of the passage We do not need to include these small details in summaries
28. What small details do you notice? Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
29. What small details do you notice? Many butterflies depend on While this certain plants to survive. As example adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some supports the caterpillars only eat the leaves of main idea, it is specific plants. Monarch not needed for a caterpillars, for example, eat summary only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
30. What other small details do you notice? Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
31. What other small details do you notice? Many butterflies depend on The description certain plants to survive. As of the Xerxes adults, butterflies drink nectar. Society is not But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of needed in a specific plants. Monarch summary. caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
32. Repeated Ideas Authors also might repeat ideas. When the same idea is restated, we only need to include it once in a summary.
33. What makes a good summary? Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
34. Using text structure The text structure of a text refers to how the text is organized Description Cause and Effect Chronological Order Problem/Solution Compare and Contrast
35. Using text structure When you look at the text structure of a text, you can find the big ideas and see how to organize your summary Description Cause and Effect Chronological Order Problem/Solution Compare and Contrast
36. What is the text structure? Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
37. What is the text structure? Many butterflies depend on Overall, this certain plants to survive. As paragraph shows adults, butterflies drink nectar. the text But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of structure of specific plants. Monarch cause and effect. caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
38. Text Structure in a Summary Many butterflies depend on In your certain plants to survive. As summary, you adults, butterflies drink nectar. need to show the But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of cause and effect! specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
39. What makes a good summary?
40. What makes a good summary?
41. What makes a good summary? What do you remember about the four rules for writing a good summary? Include the important ideas from the text Put ideas in your own words Leave out little details and repeated information Use the text structure of the text
42. Now, it’s your turn! Look back at the butterfly text. Can you write a summary?
43. Write your own summary Many butterflies depend on certain plants to survive. As adults, butterflies drink nectar. But caterpillars eat leaves. Some caterpillars only eat the leaves of specific plants. Monarch caterpillars, for example, eat only milkweed. If butterflies cannot find the food source they need for their eggs, the next generation will not survive. When habitats are changed, such as when wetlands are drained or forests are cleared, butterfly populations may drop dramatically. According to the Xerxes Society, an invertebrate conservation group, over 50 kinds of U.S. butterflies are at risk.
44. by Emily Kissner For more on summarizing, read my book:
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