Dear Parent/Guardian,

Your child is currently working on the literacy strategy, Summarize text; include important details, which helps with the overall goal, Comprehension.

Summarizing is taking sections of text and pulling out the most important parts of what was read. It is deciding what is worth remembering in a selection and capturing it in your own words. As readers it is important to summarize what we read so we can remember, organize, and understand the importance of the selection.

Summarizing is used often but is challenging for many readers. This is because they try to retell the whole story with great detail. They struggle with finding the most critical elements of the story. When this happens, use the strategies below to get your child familiar with summarizing text.

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?
  1. When reading with your child, model how to summarize. After finishing a few pages or a chapter, stop and summarize what has happened. State the main ideas and organize the events of the story.
  2. After reading a story, have your child draw a picture of the most important information from the story. This will help your child to focus on what the main idea of the story was by deciding what parts of the story need to be included in the picture.
  3. Read one chapter in a chapter book or a portion of a picture book and question your child about what was read. Questions to ask your child after reading include:
    • What is this selection about?
    • What are the main ideas of this selection? What is your evidence?
    • What is not important to remember in this selection? Why?
  4. Make it a game with your child. Have your child read a selection and then give them one minute to tell you what happened in the their reading and why you should or should not read it. Remind them to only tell you the most important details of the book.
Thank you for your continued support at home!

—Mrs. Boushey

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