Summarizing

Read the following passage and then answer the question.
As soon as she arrived at grandmother's house, Jessica ran into her bedroom to look at the blue quilt. It covered her grandmother's bed and was Jessica's favorite. It had patches of dark blue, medium blue, and light blue, with pictures of birds and flowers on every other patch. Jessica liked to take naps with the quilt wrapped around her. She loved the way it felt so soft and warm against her skin. Whenever she was visiting grandma, just looking at the quilt made Jessica happy.

• Jessica's grandmother has a pretty blue quilt.
• Jessica loved her grandmother's quilt.
• Jessica took naps at her grandmother's house.
• The quilt was warm.

Which best describes a summary?

• a really long detailed piece of writing
• the entire text told in your own words
• a dumb thing that teachers make you write
• the main ideas and important details of a text

Summaries help me...

• understand what I'm reading
• write about what I read
• include the key points of a text
• all of the above

It started when they got to the bears. Peter felt tired and his stomach hurt. He dragged himself over to see the elephants, which were eating from a stack of hay. Normally, the elephants were his favorite. Without much interest, Peter followed his classmates to the camels, which were busy swatting flies with their tails. Peter knew he should be having fun at the zoo, but he just felt terrible and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest. Even the lions and tigers did not interest him now. 
The Summary of this passage is:

• Peter's favorite animals were the elephants.
• The camels were swatting flies with their tails.
•  It was really hot at the zoo.
• Peter didn't enjoy the zoo because he felt really bad.

Julie watched the ants as they carried small crumbs down the trail to the anthill. She thinks ants are very hard working and industrious little creatures. They always seemed busy, and you never saw an ant just laying around doing nothing. They were carrying food, building tunnels, or defending the anthill. One thing you could say about ants is that they sure aren't lazy.
The Summary of this passage is:
 

• Ants carry many things.
• Some ants may bite you.
• Ants are hard workers.
• Some ants help take care of the queen.

Johnny really wanted an adventure. He borrowed his friend's bike and explored the world. He saw many amazing things and had a lot of fun. Johnny was so glad he went on his trip! What is the best summary for this paragraph?

• Johnny saw amazing things.
• Johnny went on a fun bike adventure.
• Johnny was glad he went on a trip.
• Johnny wanted to explore.

Sally had a birthday party at her house. She invited lots of friends. They all brought her a present to open. She was excited to share cupcakes with her friends. She thanked everyone for coming before they went home. What is the best summary for this paragraph?

• Sally opened presents.
• Sally ate cupcakes with her friends.
• Sally had a birthday party with her friends.
• Sally thanked her friends for coming.

Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin.
The Summary of this passage is:

• Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.
•  Jill loves Mexican food.
• The Pizza Shop has the best pizza in town.
•  Jill will choose a place by flipping a coin.

Which one of the following is NOT a part of a summary?

• using your own words
• summary being shorter than the text
• exact words from the text
• including main ideas only

What can you summarize?

• only novels

• only nonfiction

• only movies

• anything you read or watch