6th Grade Summarizing

6th Grade Summarizing

by Lacy McAllister

​Summarizing

​Means to come up with your own words for a condensed verison of a passage.

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​When you describe a story to your friends, you mention the main character, key events, and details you liked or didn't like.

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​When reading, try jotting down a summary of each paragraph in a longer passage. This will help you organize its contents in your mind and provide a guide to finding answers to questions.

​The Negro

​Africa is at once the most romantic and the most tragic of continents. Its very names reveal its mystery and wide-reaching influence. It is the "Ethiopia" of the Greek, the "Kush" and "Punt" of the Egyptian, and the Arabian "Land of the Blacks." To modern Europe it is the "Dark Continent" and "Land of Contrasts." In literature, it is the seat of the Sphinx and the lotus eaters, the home of the dwarfs, gnomes, and pixies, and the refuge of the gods. In commerce, it is the slave mart and the source of ivory, ebony, rubber, gold, and diamonds. What other continent can rival in interest this Ancient of Days?

​There are those who would write universal history and leave out Africa. But how can one leave out the land of Egypt and Carthage?...Yet it is true that the history of Africa is unusual, and its strangeness is due in no small degree to the physical peculiarities of the continent. With three times the area of Europe, it has a coast line a fifth shorter. Like Europe it is a peninsula of Asia, curving southwestward around the Indian Sea. It has few gulfs, bays, capes, or islands. Even the rivers, though large and long, are not means of communication with the outer world.

SUMMARY- Africa has a complex history. It has produced empires, art, resources, and religion, but it also faced slavery. Strangely, some historians don't bother including Africa. Maybe they have misconceptions because Africa's georgraphy isolated it from much of the world for so long.

​The First Woman

​Once there was a beautiful woman who lived in a pleasant valley on earth. The rest of the world was filled with rocks and mountains. In this valley, summer was the ruling season, and honey and fruit were always available. Her only companions were the dove and the doe. She was the reigning spirit of this world, and nothing ever grew old or died.

​One morning the woman followed a scarlet butterfly to a remore waterfall where the butterfly disappeared. Realizing she was lost, the woman fell asleep from exhaustion. When she woke, a being like herself stooped down and lifted her off the ground. Clothed in a robe of clouds, the man told her he saw her as he traveled across the sky.

​Because he rescued her, the man had broken the command of the Great Spirit. He would remain on earth and share her companionship. For many moons, they lived happily in the valley. The woman bore a child. Sad because he broke the law, the man sought the guidance and forgiveness of the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit took pity on the man and the woman. He opened up many more valleys and plains for the future inhabitants, but because of the broken command, the Great Spirit caused the man and woman to labor for their food. They would also suffer from cold, grow old, and die when their heads became as white as the feathers of swans.

​Summary of The First Woman

​There once was a woman who was the only human on earth with only a dove and a doe as companions. The woman was the reigning spirit of this world in which nothing ever grew old or died. One day, the woman follows a butterfly to a waterfall, and she becomes lost. She goes to sleep, and when she wakes up, a male being lifts her off of the ground and rescues her. The man and woman live together on earth and have a child together. However, because the man broke the law, the man and woman had to grow their own food, endure the cold, grow old, and die when their hair became as white as the feathers of a swan.

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​Only mention the main characters, events, and important details.

Open Ended

A Classic Car Story-

Sterling McCall began collecting cars in 1979 in a small Texas town.  That year, a customer drove a 1927 Ford Model T Doctor's Coupe into McCall's dealership.  The customer wanted to trade it for a new car.  The Ford Model T was so distinctive and fun to drive, McCall gladly made a deal.  He liked the antique car so much that he decided not to sell it and kept it in a barn on is farm outside of Houston. 

McCall's hobby of collecting older-model cars became the talk of the town.  People began to bring their old cars to the dealership to trade for new cars.  In fifteen years, McCall collected so many classic and antique cars he had to build garages all over his farm.  A 1941 Buick convertible, a 1948 Lincoln Continental convertible, and a 1946 Plymouth convertible were a few of the valuable and rare classics McCall bought, restored, and drove just for fun.

The definition of a classic varies.  However, the Classic Car Club of America states that a car must be at least twenty years old to be considered a classic.  Cars that are over forty-five years old qualify as antique cars.  Values of these old cars vary widely.  Determining factors include the year a car was made, the history of the model, and the demand for a specific car.

McCall's collection of cars totaled eighty-eight when he finally decided to stop building garages on his farm.  He decided to open a car museum in Warrenton, a town located three miles from his farm.  The Sterling McCall Old Car Museum opened in 1998.  The museum provides a glimpse into the history of the automobile.

Open Ended

The Road Not Taken

Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Summarize this poem in two or three sentences.