The Fabulous Perpetual Motion Machine Summarizing

Vocabulary Review: Applauds – shows approval by clapping hands, shouting, and so on Browsing – looking here and there Fabulous – wonderful; exciting Inspecting – looking over carefully; examining Project – a special assignment planned and carried out by a student or group of students

What does it mean to summarize? To make a brief statement that tells the main ideas of the text.

Why do we summarize? Active readers summarize to check their understanding of a selection. We summarize to maintain meaning by stating main ideas and leaving out unimportant details. It helps you to make sure that you understand and remember what you read. Remember: A good summary should be brief and use a reader’s own words!!!

Cookies or Crumbs When we summarize, we want to leave out the ‘crumbs’, or unimportant details. We only want to tell about the main ideas of the selection, the ‘big cookie’! Crumbs are good too, for providing supporting details and making the story interesting and colorful, but when summarizing, make sure you focus on the cookie! Main ideas are what everyone needs to hear!

Strategies: As you read, stop and summarize each paragraph or two to make sure that you are grasping the main idea of what the text is saying. When possible, underline or highlight the important information from each paragraph. Use a sticky-note to take notes of the main ideas that you’ve read.

S – Shorter than the text U – Use your own words M – Main ideas ONLY SUMmarize It! S – Shorter than the text U – Use your own words M – Main ideas ONLY