Summarizing reading comprehension strategy is an important skill to have for reading comprehension and it helps students give a brief recount of a text or story. This skill will help build comprehension skills needed for understand books for entertainment or even step by step instructions that will be so useful in the future. Children should be able to retell a story to a friend or parent they enjoyed. It is the ability to get to the main points and share why and how they enjoyed it. Summarizing a movie is a great skill if you want a friend to go see it! As an adult, you can summarize a news story, drama, or screen play to a friend or family member.

To break down this skill there are several ways to teach this to children, and even the youngest children.

Summarizing Reading Strategy Lesson Plan

Summarizing: Students will be able to retell a story using a garden glove.

Lesson Plan:

Before the Lesson

Before your lesson: Write “Summarizing” at the top of an anchor chart. Using a glove, write or use sticky strips to write on each finger of the glove: characters, setting, problem, solution, events.

During the Lesson

During the Lesson:

State your target: Tell your students that today we will be learning how to summarize a story. Point to the heading of the anchor chart, “Summarizing.” Go over the definition with your students and write it under the heading in simple terms for K-2. “I can retell a story.”

Read a picture book that has characters, a setting, a problem, a solution, and events.

After your read the story, put on the glove and go back through to identify each of the points on your glove.

Involve the students to turn and talk to name each of the points. Turn back to share with the group between each point as time allows.  Repeat this process a couple of times over a couple of days.

After the Lesson

After the Lesson:

Give students a paper hand. They may draw their own hand, or you can pre-make it, and copy.  I have included a hand for your convenience in a ready made packet to quickly use a printable.  You may also consider purchasing white winter gloves and writing each of these points on the gloves with a sharpie.  You may only need 12 gloves for a class of 24, since they will only need 1 pair each. They can work in pairs, for example if using gloves or independently if using printables. You may also consider only purchasing 3 pair of gloves and use them to teach this concept in a small group setting.

After you pass out your paper hand, or winter glove, restate the target. “I can retell a story. This is called summarizing.” “I can use a paper hand (glove) to help me retell a story.”

You may also have a readers’ notebooks that the hand can be cut out and glued into their notebooks, as an option.

Make a copy of the hand and place it on the anchor chart for reference throughout the year. As you summarize throughout the year, refer back to your anchor chart.

Consider making a color copy of any book you use and glue it to your premade anchor chart.  If you read more than one book, you can add them to your anchor chart if you summarize.

Summarizing Lesson Plan Extension

Summarize: Students will be able to summarize a story using a garden glove.

EXTENSIONS: These are activities you can do in whole group, small guided reading groups, or independent stations to differentiate depending on the ability of your students.

Extension 1: In small reading groups, pick out a different book that has characters, setting, problem, and solution, and events. You can use the glove or the printable to repeat the lesson to help students further understand, but in a smaller group for further teaching. With lower reading groups, you will want to have them repeat after you these points if they cannot come up with the answers on their own. Average readers to your grade level, you may give prompts to have them retell the points.  With higher reading groups, let them come up with these points more independently, but with redirection if they cannot state it correctly.

Extension 2: With higher ability students, they may read a book after they have had ample chances to practice and write or draw their answers on a response sheet, included in a packet you can purchase here, Summarizing Reading Comprehension.

Extension 3: Have students use crayons, color pencils, paint, chalk, clay, or other items to create a point. Students can draw the points from the glove.

When teaching children how to summarize, reading stories aloud can be a great way to engage with and keep their attention. For younger children, picture books are a great way to start. They can take the time to look at the illustrations and discuss what has happened in the story, as well as summarize it in their own words. 

10 Books to Teach Summarizing

Here are 10 great books that can help bring summarizing to life:

“Flat Stanley” by Jeff Brown

“The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka

“The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” by Jon Scieszka,

“The House That Smiley Built” by Janet Schulman

“The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss

“Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle

“Trouble Gum” by Matthew Cordell

“Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak

“After the Fall” by Dan Santat

Summarizing Reading Comprehension in Writing

How do you teach summarizing in writing?

Summarizing can be taught in writing by teaching students to be able to tell what happened in the “beginning, middle, and end.” You can also teach “Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then.” In addition, you may also teach writing as, “First, then, and last.”

Beginning, Middle, and End Summary

Use an anchor chart to model this strategy before expecting your students to do this. Read aloud a picture book and talk through it as you are reading it. Put each point on the anchor chart as you and your students come up with the ideas together as a class. Go back over it when you are finished. With k-2 grades, it is suggested you do a few of these before students try with guided help writing their own summaries.

Use an anchor chart with grades 3-4 as a guide to show students how to do this step by step. Engage students to help you along the way so they can see how to do it on their own later.

I would then read a book and have them write it as a class following your guided on a document camera. So they see you do it and verbally contribute, then they can do it following you on a document camera or 1-1. Then finally, allow them to do this alone.

Once they are ready for guided writing, teaching beginning, middle, and ending is a great way to teach summary. Students can write 1-2 sentences for beginning, 1-2 sentences for the middle, and 1-2 sentences for the ending. Likewise, each part can contain 3-4 sentences for grades 3-4. For beginning, students can write the main points that happened at the beginning, main points for the middle, and main points for the end. A fun way to teach this is to use the hamburger method. This is a way to help students visualize the beginning, middle, end. The top bun is beginning, meat and trimmings are the details of the middle, and bottom bun wraps up the end.

Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then, Summary

This is another way that you may choose to teach writing summary. Tell students that you are looking for the answers that go with each of these word prompts and questions.

Somebody: Who are the characters?

Wanted: What did they want?

But: What is the problem?

So: What is the solution?

Then: How does the story end?

What are some strategies for Summarizing Reading Comprehension?

1. Read a page or section. Stop and think about what it is saying and restate it in your own words. Discuss it with a reading partner, teacher or parent.
2. Ask yourself how does this story or text connect.

Using a Hand as a Model Great Visual for Summarizing Reading Comprehension

1. For elementary students, you may consider using the hand model. This is where you draw a picture of the hand, or use a printable hand. Students can list each of these matching each finger.
   • Thumb: Characters
   • Pointer finger: Setting
   • Middle finger: Problem
   • Ring finger: Solution
   • Pinky: Events (Beginning, Middle, End)

After they are able to make these points on a hand, then you can go through and model these points with an anchor chart, then guided writing until they are able to write these on their own.

4 Steps for Summarization Strategy for Reading Comprehension

• Review: Tell the most important parts of a text or story in your own words
• Evaluate the text: Make an opinion about the passage that was read.
• Paraphrase: Repeat the story with the most important parts and leave out the unimportant details.
• Determine Summary: Think through these details and determine the summary.

Reading strategy can be best summarized by following a few simple steps. First, consider the purpose of the content. Is it to inform or to persuade? Once you know the purpose, skim the text to get an overview of the content. Next, dig deeper by reading actively, looking for key concepts, ideas, and facts. Finally, reflect on what you’ve read by taking notes, engaging in discussion, or writing a summary or review. Reading actively can help ensure that readers absorb and retain the material they’ve read, making for a more productive and meaningful reading experience.

Summarize, Reflect, and Learn

When it comes to reading strategy, it’s important to consider what type of material is being read and how much time you have to read it. To help you read more effectively, consider using these three steps: summarize, reflect, and learn. When summarizing, think about the main points and key terms that are most relevant to your goals. Reflecting involves stopping to consider the content and asking yourself questions to deepen your understanding. Finally, learning involves actively engaging with the material by taking notes, rephrasing concepts, or applying ideas to other areas of your work or life. When used together, these three steps can help you become an active reader and ultimately become more proficient in understanding the material.