Summarize

Why do we Summarize?

• To identify and organize important information
• To check understanding in a brief way
• To find the main idea, and/or problem/solution
• To put the story in order

When do we Summarize?

• When reading, giving game instructions, talking quickly about our week-end, explaining newspaper articles. . .
• Before, during, and after reading

How do we Summarize? 

• In our own words
• Before we read we preview to see how the text is organized by looking at cover, table of contents, illustrations
• During reading we keep a graphic organizer and jot down what has happened
• After reading we skim text and determine the most important parts in 3-5 sentences.  What can we leave out?  Use the graphic organizer to help
• When it is nonfiction we use the text structure to create a summary:  descriptive, problem/solution, compare/contrast, sequential, main idea/detail, cause/effect
• Pick out what’s necessary ~ title, captions, headings.  Cross out repeated items.  Highlight necessary ideas and key words, make a graphic organizer with key words and ideas for each paragraph, invent a topic sentence by using the first sentence of the text
• Omit unimportant details

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