Summarizing and Details

When some people think about Texas, they think of cowboys on the open range-herding cattle up a dusty trail. However, Texas has much more than open prairie with large herds of cows. There are the mountains of West Texas, the piney hills of east Texas, and the emerald waters off the coast of Padre Island. Texas also has large coastal harbors with numerous sailboats, powerboats, inland lakes, rivers, swamps of southeast Texas with alligators and other exotic wildlife.

The best summary of this passage is:

• There are many different, varied parts of Texas.

• There are a lot of cows in Texas.

• There are alligators in the swampland of southeast Texas.

• Texas is one of the biggest states in the United States.

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. The best summary of this passage is...

• 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.

An_________________ is when you retell or rewrite a story in your own words, but DO NOT include your own thoughts, ideas, or opinions.

• paraphrase

• objective summary

• conclusion

• inference

Travis and Frederick went to the mall to buy shoes. Frederick decided that he was going to steal pair of shoes from the mall. Travis tried to talk Frederick out of doing it. When they got to the mall and entered the shoes store Travis went to look at some shoes. Frederick pretended to be looking at shoes, when he suddenly bolted for the door with a pair of Nikes. The security guard reached out and grabbed Frederick's arm and took him to the station. Travis just called his mom to pick him up. What is the most appropriate summary?

• Travis wanted a pair of shoes from the mall so he got his friend Frederick to steal them.

• Frederick thought he could get away with stealing shoes from the mall and he did.

• Travis had no idea that Frederick planned to steal from the mall when they planned to buy shoes.

• Travis tried to talk his friend Frederick out of stealing shoes from the mall, but when he did it anyway he got caught.

The faculty at Newtown Elementary School invites you to attend our annual Honors Dinner on Thursday, June 17, 2005, in the school cafeteria. A meal will be served at 7:00 P.M. The cost of the meal is $7.50 per person. Please respond by June 5th with the number of family members attending. We look forward to seeing you there. Which of the following is the best summary of the invitation?

• The teachers at school are having a dinner to which you are invited. It will be at 7 P.M. on June 17 and will cost $7.50 a person.

• Students need to decide if they want to go to the Honors Dinner with their teachers and family at Newtown Elementary School.

• Newtown Elementary School is going to have an Honors Dinner. The teachers hold this dinner once a year for all of the honors students.

• The dinner costs $7.50 a person. You need to let the teachers know by June 5 how many people you are bringing to the dinner.

What is the central idea?

• Sloths and tapirs are other creatures that live in the rain forest.

• The rain forest is home to many creatures.

• Monkeys, toucans and macaws live in the rain forest.

Which sentence should be included in the summary of the passage above?

• After reading the book, Williams shouted, "Tip your hat to the Cat!"

• The students giggled while Williams made her voice change from deep to high...

• Two lucky second graders from PS 152 in Manhattan sat next to Williams on a big red chair.

• Serena Williams, the tennis champion, read The Cat in the Hat to second graders.

Supporting details are_______________________-

• the central idea

• more important information

• words, phrases,or sentences that tell more about the central idea

• irrelevant information given

Why are key details important?

• They help me understand the main idea

• They are names of characters

• They are always written in bold print

• They are not important

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