SUPER Summary Boot Camp

Hello Buddies-

So, my third grade superheroes are great. They really are! They work hard! They love reading! but they can't write a summary to save their lives. Seriously- they either rewrite the entire story or they sum up the whole story in two sentences. With DRA time around the corner it was time for a SUPER Teacher to take action. (Are you humming a heroic tune in your head when you read this, because I am while writing this?)

The other class my co-teacher works with was on a class trip meaning that I would have her ALL DAY! (Are you now hearing a choir singing- you should be! It's how I felt!) So we decided to take the day and work on summaries, so the SUPER Summary Boot Camp was born. 

My co-teacher and I wore matching Captain America cardigans and capes

We started the day by having the kids suit up! Superhero strength was going to be a necessity today! Then I read The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore a fantastic book to model summary writing. 

I used this chart to help my little heroes figure out what was needed when writing a summary and used our Story Elements post-its to jot the important events while I was reading. 

Then we wrote a summary together so my little heroes would have a model to work from. 

After coming back from special we had snack and took some time to watch the Academy Award short film that was adapted from he book. It was a great film and really conveyed the message and heart of the book. 

How cute are they with their superhero capes on?!?!?!?!?

Then It was time for my little heroes to use their powers for good. I gave them a leveled reader (I knew they had to be good for something) and had them read, jot story element post-its, and write their own summaries.  Definitely heroic work!

Before sending them off we added some tips to our Summary Anchor Chart. 

Reading and jotting

The end result was pretty good! I only had four or five little heroes that I had to work with in small groups to help them really understand what a summary required. Have we all accomplished summaries in one lesson---heck no! But, we are closer than we ever were before! 

See ya later!

-Damien