Need extra help for EL students? Try the A Simple Summary pre-lesson.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to write a simple summary after reading a fiction text.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
EL adjustments
Introduction
(10 minutes)
Ask students to turn and talk to a partner about what they know about summaries. Have partnerships share out and record student answers on the board.
Tell students that today they are going to learn how to write a simple summary.
Review the definition of a summary: When you write a summary, you are retelling a story in your own words. A summary should be short, about three sentences, and should include the main ideas of the story, not details.
Explain to students that they will listen to a story and you will model how to write a simple summary. Read a short story aloud, like The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.
Beginning:
Ask students to talk to a partner about the definition of the word summary using English or their home language (L1).
Provide a student-friendly definition of the word* main ideas* and details.
Intermediate:
Show an example of a summary of a text that the class recently read.
Have ELs rephrase the definition and qualities of a summary. Provide a sentence stem for student conversation, such as "A good summary __________."