Rationale: Summarization is one of the two most powerful strategies for comprehending text. An effective method of summarizing is called about-point, which asks two critical questions about the text: a) What is the text about? This is usually an easy question, and it identifies the topic that becomes the subject of the topic sentence. b) What is the main point the writer is making about that topic? This is a harder question. Since the author usually makes several points, the reader must “superordinate” the points, i.e., find an umbrella term that covers all the main points the author is making. The main point becomes the predicate of the topic sentence.

 

Materials:

• Individual copies of an article written for kids on bioluminescent creatures from timeforkids.com (URL below).

• Pencil and paper for each student.

• Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below).

 

Procedures:

1. Explain to children why summarization is important: When we read a text, we would spend all day trying to remember all the words and all the details. Good readers don’t try to remember everything. They use summarization strategies to remember only the important points the author is making about the topic. In that way, they reduce a text that may have hundreds or thousands of words to a compact gist that is easy to remember.

2.  The best way to summarize is called about-point. In about-point, you ask yourself an easy question and a tough question, and you use your answers to make a topic sentence. The easy question is "What is the text about?" The tough question is "What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?" To answer this question, you have to think of an umbrella term for all the important points the writer is telling you.

3.  In a few minutes, I’m going to show you how I’d do about-point with a paragraph on bioluminescent creatures, which is the article you are going to be reading today. Do you know what bioluminescent means? Have you seen a creature that is bioluminescent? Why do you think these creatures glow? These are some of the questions you will be learning to answer today.

4.  Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: bioluminescent. Bioluminescent means the light given off by some creatures like fireflies. How many of you know what a firefly is? What color do they glow? Fireflies are bioluminescent because they create their own light. Are grasshoppers bioluminescent? No, because they do not give off their own light. Complete this sentence: I can see fireflies at night because they are __________? (bioluminescent)

5.  Here is a paragraph from the story:

   1. Have you seen a firefly glow? Fireflies are bioluminescent. That means they make their own light. “It’s like a flashlight or a lightbulb,” Hans Waldenmaier told TFK. He studies glowing mushrooms in Brazil. But bioluminescence can be found all around the world. Some glowing creatures live on land. But most live in water. About 80% are ocean-dwellers.

6. This paragraph is about bioluminescent creatures, but what important point is the writer making? Bioluminescent creatures make their own light. Also, you can find bioluminescent creatures all around the world. We can put these points together to make a topic sentence: All around the world there are creatures that make their own light called bioluminescence.

7.  Now I want you to use about-point on a paragraph:

   1.  Tiny plankton sparkle at the water’s surface. These organisms light up with motion. So they glisten with every wave. And the ocean depths are full of bioluminescence. Animals have adapted to the dark habitat by making their own light The ability to make light is useful for animals. It helps different creatures in different ways. Some use it to communicate. Some light up to find food or a mate. Other creatures light up to send out a warning or in defense. A vampire squid releases a glowing cloud. The light throws off predators. A dragonfish uses red light to hunt for food. Fireflies flash to attract mates.

8.  What is this paragraph about? Yes, bioluminescent creatures. What are the main points the author is making about these creatures? Correct, bioluminescent creatures use their light in different ways. Yes, another point is that these animals make their own light because they adapted to their dark habitat. How could we combine these ideas in one sentence beginning: Bioluminescent creatures…? Bioluminescent creatures may use their light in different ways, but they all had to adapt to their dark habitats to make their light.

9.  Now I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you will have made a good summary of the article, which will help you remember important facts about bioluminescence. Don’t summarize examples or trivia; they are written only to help you understand the main ideas. You are writing a short version of the article in your own words, including only the important ideas to remember. And to make sure you remember, we will have a quiz after everyone finishes writing.

 

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article, and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist:

1. __ Collected important information

2. __ Ignored trivia and examples in summary.

3. __ Significantly reduced the text from the original

4. __ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

5. __ Sentences organized coherently into essay form.

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Quiz:

1. What does it mean if an animal is bioluminescent?

2. Can we find these creatures in more than one place?

3. What caused these animals to make their own light?

4. Does every animal use their light for the same purpose? Why or why not?

5. What makes these animals glow?

6. Can we always see these animal’s lights? Why or why not?

 

References:

• Murray, Bruce. Using About-Point to Awaken the Main Idea http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/AboutPointRL.html

• Time for Kids, Natures Bright Lights https://www.timeforkids.com/g2/bioluminescent/