Summarizing Fiction Texts

These resources will help your child by identifying the relevant information in fiction texts and using that information to summarize the story as a whole. These skills improve your child's reading comprehension and prepare them for research papers later on. Get them started on non-fiction text with these non-fiction text resources too.

A concise summary of works of fiction and other reading materials signal that a student fully understands the what they've read. Learning to summarize strengthens comprehension and improves thinking skills. The Learning Library offers popular worksheets, extensive lesson plans, pragmatic hands-on activities and a selection of highly-rated printable workbooks all created by professional teachers.

An added bonus of summarization practice is that the process introduces children to new topics through reading. For example, some of the complete lesson plans include a look at Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner.” Kids will dissect the lyrics and learn the context the song’s history to uncover the meaning behind the patriotic anthem. Some other popular lesson plans on summary include an examination of “Bud, Not Buddy,” a book on the Great Depression. Convenient printable worksheets offer practical paraphrasing challenges as well as teach kids the difference between the big picture and smaller themes.

Workbooks offer more exhaustive lessons. Today, excellent cinema and in-depth dramatic television series display exceptional forms of storytelling. They challenge viewers to perceive and interpret context clues, symbols, camera angles, and other film techniques. “The Magic and Moving Pictures” workbook introduces fifth-graders to early film. The tricky trivia, mind-bending puzzles, craft-making assignments serve as an introduction to critique and will get young learners’ gears turning as they look beyond the surface of what’s on screen. Other comprehensive workbooks include an investigation of Rudyard Kipling’s famous folktales (“The Jungle Book”), a look at legendary myths such as Bigfoot and Nessie with “Creepy Creatures,” among other crowd-pleasers.