Miss McRae's

PROCEDURES

1. Say: “Does anyone know what it means to summarize something? [Let students answer and then explain.] Summarizing is when we take all of the important parts an author makes in a text, like a book or an article, and leave behind the information that is not as important. We can’t always remember everything that happened in a story or all the facts in an article, so we use summarization to help us remember everything that was important. Today, we are going to learn more about summarization by reading a text and then narrowing down the important points by writing a few sentences to help us remember the key points the author made about the topic.”

 

2. Say: “We are going to summarize our text by using the about-point method. This method has us ask ourselves two questions after reading the article: what the text is about and what is the main point the writer is trying to make? To help us answer the second question, we need to think of an umbrella term or a category to combine all the important points made in the text.”

 

3. Say: “We are going to practice the about-point strategy with an article about the future of food! Does anyone want to share something cool they know about food? [Have students answer and explain.] I know that that food can be spicy and sweet, it includes fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains, and it's not always sustainable which means sometimes it can't be grown as quickly as it is eaten. Food is important in our everyday lives! In the text we read, we are going to learn more about the future of food!” [Pass out article to each student.]

 

4. Say: “Before we read, we are going to talk about an unfamiliar word that some of us may not know. The unfamiliar word is laboratory. Laboratory is a place where people study science. A place that is opposite of a laboratory might be a landfill. Landfills are where we throw things away instead of creating things. Let’s see the word laboratory in a sentence: “The laboratory where Jason's mother worked was filled with vials and microscopes.” Have you ever seen a microscope? Raise your hand to finish this sentence: I have seen a microscope at...” [Call on one student to finish the sentence and explain].

 

5. Say: “Let’s read this paragraph from the article about the future of food!”

"The world’s population is growing. People need to be fed. Lab-grown meat may be one solution.
Regular meat production requires a lot of cows. Cows release a gas that harms the environment. They also take up land. But lab-grown meat uses fewer cows and less land. “You only need the land for the facility” where the meat is made, Elliot Swartz told TIME for Kids. He works at the Good Food Institute."

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This paragraph is telling us that there are  more people being born. We could raise more cows, but it would hurt the environment because they release a harmful gas and they take up a lot of space. Then, it introduces a new kind of meat. Meat grown from labs! The paragraph also mentions a man named Elliot Swartz who works at a laboratory that you only need land for the building.

 

6. Say: “Now it’s your turn to try the about-point method using this paragraph from the article!”

 

“Lab-grown meat is not in stores. It costs too much money. The first lab-grown burger was made in 2013. It cost $300,000 to make! Also, the government still needs to make sure lab-grown meat is safe to eat. But one day, you may see it in your grocery store. Would you like to try lab-grown meat?"

 

“What is this paragraph telling us? It is describing the places where meat is not and that it is expensive. What points is the author making? Yes, lab-grown meat might be better for the environment, but it is too expensive to make right now! It also points out that one day, we might see it in our local grocery stores and then it poses a question! Would you try it?"

 

7. Say: “Now I want you to finish reading the article and use the about-point method to make your own topic sentences for each section. When you finish, you should have summarized the whole article on your own! This will help you remember the important facts about giraffes. The point of summarizing is to condense or shorten all the main points into simple sentences so remember to just pick out the meaningful information. After everyone has finished, we will take a short quiz to see what you remember about the article.”