Summary: A Great Strategy Part II

I promised an application part of my summary post, so here it is! If you go back exactly two posts ago, you will see how I teach summary.  It is based on three symbols for character, problem, solution and using them to write and process summary choices.  Let me explain why I use this method over beginning, middle, and end. Beginning, middle, and end suggest that there are three distinct sections of each story...possibly even equal in length.  Many times the problem/conflict in the story is shared in the first paragraph. Sometimes the problem is toward the end (but not very often!) Neither of those is the "middle" where we'd expect the problem, or conflict, to be. If you teach kids to look for the three elements rather than beginning, middle, and end, they will have summary down much faster and more efficiently because they aren't looking for three sections, but story elements.

One of the reasons (besides being able to summarize orally and write a summary of a fiction story) that we need to teach summary is because it is a tested item. Our answer choices are lengthy and daunting! We use this summary "chart" to analyze each answer choice and eliminate the ones that don't have enough information.  It works every time! Seriously, I've not found a time that this chart would not help children.

So...Step 1:

Choose books you love that have strong character, problem, solution parts (which is probably almost any children's book!) and create some summary questions of your own.  I usually have two pretty good summaries as choices, but then two that leave out the solution or the problem.  I just finished reading and using How I Became a Pirate, The Brand New Kid, and Pigsty. I read these over a period of three days and each time gave the kids a summary question where we drew the chart together after each story.  We  went through each answer choice carefully using the chart "check off system", and chose the best summary!

Write a summary question such as: "Which of these is the best summary of the story?"  Then give A,B,C,D choices as lengthy as the real test does!

Step 2:
The students can be trained to immediately draw the chart when they see this type of question. (They do have to remember that this is only for fiction!)  This is a computer drawing, but the kids can easily learn how to draw their own with a little guidance.  The chart will allow the kids to read each answer choice and check off the the parts of a summary they find in each choice.  They can look at their chart and see which one has the most checkmarks and choose the best summary!

You can get a printable copy {here}

I usually give them one that I've made for them while we are learning to draw them on our own.

They practice making their own on the front and back. They are getting really good at drawing the chart and eliminating answers that don't have all the pieces.

I hope you can try this method and see if it works for you! Please feel free to ask me questions.  

Summary: a Great Strategy

 We always have summary questions for fiction (and nf) on our state test, as I'm sure all of you do. This technique helps our kids have a strategy for writing summaries and eventually choosing the correct answers in a fiction summary multiple choice question. As you probably know, the four answer choices for fiction summary questions are extremely long, a paragraph each usually.  The kids have to have a way to decipher all of those choices and find the best.  We have had great success with this method. 

I'm only showing step 1 of their training in this post: the symbols, three sentences, and illustrated summary.  My next post - coming soon - will include how to find the best summary answer choice after reading a fiction passage.

We start with just a simple summary foldable (steps below.)  We then move from the three "symbols" for summary (character, problem, solution,) to the three sentences, to illustrations, and possibly to a summary paragraph.  

Step 1: Make the flip book.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

After reading Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey, we wrote our summaries using the three symbols on the cover of the flipbook, sentences and drawings on the inside.

 Here are some of the finished products:

The students draw the symbols on the front. 

Student write a sentence about who the characters are, a sentence about the problem(conflict), and finally, the solution.

The last step is to draw a picture to go with each step of the summary. 

Credits 

The next post about summary will include how to use this to answer summary questions over a reading passage.  Stay tuned! 

Idioms

Idioms are so much fun.  I love teaching figurative language.  I teach most of it with poetry, but idioms, I teach in isolation.  We will write later and make sure we include some in our writing.  I use Fred Gwynne's books to introduce idioms.

Most of the idioms in these books need to be explained, but soon the kids are laughing so hard at what the little girl pictures her parents saying.  (I also told them who Herman Munster is and showed them pictures of one of my favorite shows when I was growing up!)

We then read a list of idioms that I found on the Internet and discussed some familiar ones.  We talked and joked about what the little girl in the books might have pictured with them.  We did a super simple foldable (in fact, I let them do as many as they had time for, which meant some kids did 3 or 4 foldables) to illustrate our understanding. 

I handed everyone a strip of manila about 3" wide. We folded over 1/3 of the strip.  ONE of my students actually measured the 9 inches across the strip and divided by 3 and folded over exactly 3"...he's amazing, right?!

On the left side, we wrote the idiom. On the folded over flap, we illustrated what the little girl in the books might have pictured when she heard the idiom. This made the foldable funnier to the kids.  The "big reveal" to the idiom's meaning is written under the flap. They LOVED this super simple foldable. 

Idiom meanings under the flap!

Please share your ideas for teaching idioms.  I'd love to hear new ways to add to what I already do!

Similes Activity

I absolutely LOVE teaching similes and metaphors because I love using music in instruction.  The hard part is getting kids to use them in writing. That will be another post.  

I introduce similes by using Whole Brain Teaching. We "mirror" the definition and "teach-ok" with our partners.  Our definition was simple: "A simile compares two things using like or as." After they have said the definition, not really understanding what they are saying, I show them a couple of written examples. We are just in the introduction stage.

I go to music examples next.  I LOVE this new song I found this year by Lenka called "Everything at Once." The kids picked up on it right away and now sound like the Texas Boys' Choir singing it!  I mean they sound absolutely amazing!!   It was right after the song that they understood what the definition meant! They could explain it and give examples on their own. To solidify what we learned, we made a simple foldable.  We've practiced the song in the days following.  They absolutely remember what they've learned!  

Fold manila paper in fourths

Cut out one of the fourths.

Fold the single fourth down and write "Similes" on the cover flap.  Write the first part of the simile on the cover. For example,  "Silly as a..."

Fold over the right flap and finish the simile, such as "monkey" to finish my simile.  Illustrate the simile on on the back of the cover flap. 

Write a sentence using the simile on the inside half.  "My little brother is silly as a monkey."
Here are some finished examples:

Cover of foldable

Cover lifted up, illustration and finished simile.

Inside half of foldable contains a sentence using the simile. 

"Slow as a snail"

Sentence containing the simile. 

Here is a link to my Free Simile Foldable (in my TpT store, link on the right) in case my pictures don't make sense! I used manila paper, but a printed copy will work as well.  

Simile Freebie!

Metaphors

 

Teaching metaphors was easy after they understood similes.  We used the lyrics from the song, "Red", by Taylor Swift. 

Click {HERE}

It has similes and metaphors. This is an entire unit that has many activities to help your students engage in the activities.  
Please leave comments and tell me how you teach similes/metaphors!  I'd love to hear your ideas shared here! 

The Dreaded Poetry Unit

  
I remember dreading poetry as a student in elementary school and jr. high.   BORIIIIING.  I had a great English teacher in high school and then majored in English in college.  I learned to love and appreciate poetry, but I had NO idea where to start with teaching it when I became a teacher.  In college, there were so many different interpretations of old, stuffy poems.  I enjoyed helping students understanding poetry as I taught many years of English at the jr. high level.  I developed as an interpreter of poetry and gained a love and appreciation for even the "stuffy stuff." But honestly, who doesn't love fun poetry?! 

Flash forward to the present... Jack Prelutsky, now there's a poet for 'ya.  I LOVE his poetry for teaching a poetry unit.  After gathering ideas from several of his poems, I've come up with a semi-concise set of poetry elements that we made into a foldable today using Jack Prelutsky poems as examples.

Here is a picture of the foldable and the steps to make it.  It is a six-flap flipbook (Dina Zike's).  It could be so much bigger with more flaps, but I have condensed it to six flap.  

Give each student three sheets of differently colored paper (or half sheets depending how how much you need to fit on a flap), and lay them out in about 1" graduations.  Then fold them together in the middle letting the top three flaps look just like the bottom three flaps. 

After they folded, I walked around putting one staple at the top of everyone's flipbook. We wrote "Elements of Poetry" on the top flap.  We credited Jack Prelutsky and wrote the purpose of this poetry is to entertain.

On the bottom of the second flap we wrote "rhyme." Then we read a poem, with rhyme like "I Have A Dozen Dragons."  Inside, we wrote a stanza from a rhyming poem to illustrate rhyme and rhythm.  We discussed that not all poems rhyme, but most of Jack Prelutsky's do! We counted syllables in each line to understand rhythm.

We wrote "Different Word Order" on the third flap.  We talked about how poetry does not sound like regular dialogue or other writing. We sometimes write poetry in a much different way than we write a narrative.

The fourth flap was for "Punctuation."  I taught them how to use the punctuation marks to read the poem like the author intended.  We talk about how poetry doesn't follow regular writing rules and why authors create short lines or longer lines (rhythm).  We practice not slowing down at the end of the line if there is no punctuation mark.  For example, we read this as one complete thought:

"I spied my shadow slinking

up behind me in the night,..."

As one of my students put it, "you just keep the flow from one line to the next."  I liked that!

Then we practice slowing down for commas and periods That's good practice for reading anything!

We discussed lyric poetry and imagery.  Next, we wrote from "When I Am Full of Silence" on the fifth flap.   I pointed out that most of Jack Prelutsky's poems are funny, but this one is serious and that he does have some "feeling" types of poems in his collections.  This poem expresses his feelings when he wants to be alone.  Have the students share times when they want to be alone and ask if they can relate to this poem.  We had lots of good discussions about "alone time!"  (Maybe they will understand their mothers better, haha!) 

On the last flap, we wrote "Imagery- Using Senses"  We discussed what the candles symbolized and what kind of picture we saw in the poem "A Million Candles."  We also discussed that poetry can appeal to any of your five senses.

We had lots of fun reading his silly and serious poems, and then, after all that work, we took a "brainbreak" which is always fun.  The next time we write about poetry, we will go deeper into more of the elements such as imagery, alliteration, assonance, metaphor, simile, symbol and types of poems such as lyric, narrative, descriptive, humorous, etc...

Rabbit trail moment - have you ever looked at Dude Perfect on YouTube?  I have teenagers at home, so we have seen them ALL at my house.  These Texas A&M Aggie students (the most awesome of colleges) attempt impossible feats with footballs, basketballs, etc...  That was our brain break today (after we danced to MC Hammer's, "Can't Touch This," - still laughing on the inside over that because the quietest kids dance like maniacs!)  We earned our break because we worked HARD taking a spelling test, an assessment over summary, and this very LARGE poetry lesson.  We still had to do cursive!