Procedure:

1. Explain why summarization is important: “If we tried to remember every word that we read it would take us all day, and we would probably forget some words by the time we got up the next morning. Good readers do not try to remember everything; they use a strategy called summarization. Summarization is a way to get all the main points of a text, so instead of trying to remember everything, we just have to remember a couple sentences that sum it all up.”

2. “One way to summarize is called about-point. In about-point, there are two questions you ask yourself: “What is the text about?” and “What is the main point the author is trying to make about that topic?” To answer the second question, we have to think of an umbrella term. An umbrella term is something that can describe different things with one word. For example: eating out, buying shoes, and looking for a movie could all be categorized as shopping.”

3. “I’m going to show you how I would do about-point with a paragraph from an article you are going to read soon. Have you ever been outside when lightning strikes? It can be scary at times. Do you know how that happens? Do you know how to be safe from a lightning bolt?”

4. “There are a couple of words that might be tricky so we are going to talk about them now. Haven. Haven means a safe place. This is not a common word in regular speech. Instead, we might say I feel safe at home. We could also say that like “my house is my haven.” Finish this sentence: My haven is… Now for the second word: phenomenon. That’s a long word. Phenomenon means an event or occurrence. For example a formation of a glacier is a phenomenon; it is an event happening in the environment. Finish this sentence: A phenomenon I have seen or heard about is… Now we are ready to read about lightning.

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Here is a paragraph from the article:

 

Lightning's extreme heat will vaporize the water inside a tree, creating steam that may blow the tree apart. Cars are havens from lightning—but not for the reason that most believe. Tires conduct current, as do metal frames that carry a charge harmlessly to the ground.

 

This paragraph is about the heat of lightning and one way that we can be safe from being struck. Cars are made of metal, so the charge of the lightning goes around the vehicle and then back to the ground. A topic sentence could be that being around something that is a conductor of electricity could cause the lightning to use that and protect someone from being struck.”

 

     5. “Now you try the about-point method on a paragraph:

 

During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow inside storm clouds increase the imbalance between storm clouds and the ground, and often negatively charge the lower reaches of storm clouds. Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively charged—creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing a current between the two charges.

What is this paragraph about? The formation of lighting, good. What is the main point? An imbalance is formed between storm clouds and the ground which causes lightning to form. The topic sentence would be when a negative charge a positive charge are in the atmosphere it causes an imbalance.”

   

     6. “Now I want you to read the article silently to yourself and using the                    about-point method to make topic sentences for each paragraph.                       When you finish, you should have a good summary of the article. Be                 sure to not use trivia or examples. After everyone is done, we will                     have a quiz.”