Summarization
Summarization of a story is a brief telling of the main ideas of an article or the plot of a story. When you summarize, students need to be sure to focus on the most important ideas or events, not specific details.
You can help your child at home recognize the most important events in a story read by having the child focus on the five story elements while reading a narrative story (not a story giving you information).
5 Story Elements:
Characters- people and/or animals that appear in a story
Setting- when and where a story takes place.
Problem- what is wrong and who is involved in a story
Major Event- the most important thing about that story that helped
with the problem
Solution- the way a problem is solved.
If they can write briefly what these are at the end of reading a story and put it into a sentence or two, then they have written a summary.
Example: Reading a narrative story like Little Red Riding Hood
Characters-Little
Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, The Grandmother, The Hunter, The Mother
Setting- In the forest
Problem- Little Red Riding Hood needs to get a basket of goodies
to Grandma's house but the Wolf tricks her.
Major Event- The Wolf poses as grandma and tries to eat Little
Red Riding Hood.
Solution- The Hunter came in and rescued her from the mean Wolf.
Summary:
Little Red Riding Hood was told by her mother to deliver a basket of goodies
to her sick grandmother in the forest. The Wolf tricks her. He poses as
grandma and tries to eat Little Red Riding Hood. The Hunter comes in and
rescues Little Red Riding Hood from the mean Wolf.
This graphic organizer
uses the same steps.
Click for a printable
version