Summaries and Predictions

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Read the first chapter of the chosen fictional text aloud and check in on your prediction by modeling a think aloud. For example, say, "I predicted ____ and I think I may have been right because ____ or I predicted ____ and I think I was wrong because ____."
• Demonstrate updating or revising your prediction as needed by making a second prediction about the following chapter.
• Briefly review the term reading fluency as a way to read both clearly and with feeling. Model reading fluency as you read aloud to students.
• Model how to summarize the chapter using the Summarize It worksheet and explaining to students that a summary is a short way to retell key details in a story.
• Say, “Today you are going to make your own predictions and create your very own summaries of a fiction text. We write summaries to help us keep track of what we are reading, to share information or ideas with others, and to help us stay engaged while we read.”

Guided Practice

• Ask students to make a prediction about the next chapter by writing their predictions on an index card.
• Read aloud the next chapter and have students pair up with a partner to check if their prediction was correct and to revise or update their predictions for the next chapter (using the back of the same index card) as needed.

Independent working time

• Pass out the Summarize It worksheets and have students complete it based on the second chapter you read aloud. Ask them to make predictions for the coming chapter.