Getting into Fiction

As students move from first, second, and on to third, summary of fiction becomes extremely important.  Sometimes summaries become a "retell" of the story, which is not the same thing.  Kids need to be confident in what makes a good summary. State tests require that students can summarize and eventually pick summaries out of several choices of answers.  Summaries basically consist of the name(s) of the character(s), the problem in the story, and the solution.  It's shorter than a retell.  It is important that they can recount the events of a story, but writing a summary does not include all of the details.  I have created a unit that will help you teach this and other concepts.  There are symbols the students can familiarize themselves with in order to make deeper connections to these parts of the story by using them to become more interactive with their reading. While the unit has students think through and write about a favorite fairy tale, use an excellent fiction story to extend through the entire unit.  Some ideas might be The Recess Queen or Ruby the Copycat. Any fiction text you use as a touchstone text would work with this set of activities!

Have you ever asked a student or a small group of first or second graders what the most important part of the story was?  There may be more than one acceptable answer, but the "turning point" of the story will usually fit the description of the most important part.  This section of the unit specifically teaches "turning point."  This important skill is more solidified when a symbol is involved.  They can code their reading and take notes in journals using these symbols.  With practice each time they read fiction, they can learn to identify when the action begins to change into a potential solution.

The final component of the unit deals with teaching students to understand character feelings and how they change.  By comparing how the character feels during different parts of the story, students notice how feelings may change throughout the story.  There is a foldable at the end of the feelings section of this product that enables students to combine their summary and character feelings skills.  

Click here to see Primary Fiction Analysis in my TPT store!

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.  

Snot Stew

     Does that book title get your attention?  It did for my kids!  They couldn't wait to find out why the book is called Snot Stew!  If you have never read this story, it is a must for third graders. It is perfect as a read aloud or as a chapter book to use for instruction.  Whether you end up reading it for fun or for instruction, I've created a pre-reading activity...for free, of course, that will have your kids really thinking and wondering what this animal character is talking about!!

Snot Stew by Bill Wallace

     I love the inference and prediction possibilities in this story right from the start.  The story is written from the point of view of the kitten, Kikki.  It is also a great way to teach point of view. (That's another day!)  This lesson is about the prediction and inference aspect of the story.  

    You wouldn't have to read the whole story to do this activity.  It could be a stand-alone or maybe a "teaser" to get the kids to check out the story at the library!

     Enough with the ideas already...{here} ya go!

Free on TpT

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Great Books

I have my favorite books for sure.  I think I'd be sad if a year went by and I didn't get to use all of them! I have created some book units to go with some of them.  Ruby the Copycat is one of my all-time favorites. It'a about a new student, Ruby, who tries to fit in by copying another student.  She finds out that it's not a very good way to make friends. There is so much to talk about as her relationship with Angela changes over a few days of copying her.  The theme teaches kids how to be themselves and that everyone has something that they do well.  In my unit, there are prereading questions to discuss, story elements, an assessment, and Hannel's type questioning strategies.  Ruby has been my all-time best seller!  Get it on TPT or my new store at Buy Sell Teach!

Pinkie Leaves Home

 Another favorite is called Pinkie Leaves Home. A little penguin named Pinkie loses all of his feathers in an oilslick.  He solves his problem in a very "cool" way!  It features several settings and all of them help to lead Pinkie through the plot.  You can find it in my TpT store.  If you need to tie in science (environment/wildlife) to a great story, this book is wonderful!