Informational Text Summary

What is the first step to summarizing a passage?

• Carefully reading through and understanding the passage so you can make a better summary.

• Put the first important thing you see down without even reading the passage.

What is not TRUE about an informative text?

• A type of writing that provides facts and ideas.

• A type of writing that explains or conveys information.

• A type of writing that answers the five W's and one H

• A type of writing that expresses opinion or try to convince others.

A key detail is...

• A life lesson that the author is trying to communicate to us.

• An important point in the text that can help us find the main idea

• Reveals the main characters in the story.

• Is the main point the author is trying to make about the topic.

What is the purpose of an informative writing?

• To convince readers to take your point of view

• To entertain the readers

• To educate readers on a certain topic

• To narrate a story

When writing a summary for informational text, be sure to include:

• more than one main idea; author's tone; and text structure

• text features, your own opinion, and pop-out sentences

• more than one main idea, details about setting, and context clues

• author's tone, themes, and page numbers

Which of the following statements is true about SUMMARIZING?

• A summary  should include many story details.

• A summary is always found in the first sentence of a paragraph or chapter.

• A summary should always be fiction.

• A summary is what the passage is mostly about.

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 best 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.

Weather reporters have to give out a lot of information. That's why they use pictures. The pictures help them tell us about the weather without using so many words. Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is. They need to know where the warm air is. They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area. Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short. The pictures help weather reporters get the information out in a fast way.
Which sentence best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

• Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is

• Pictures help weather reporters get information out in a fast way

• Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short

• They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area

Some people say that the White House has ghosts.  The most famous ghost is Abraham Lincoln.  He is often seen standing in his room looking out the window.  Even Eleanor Roosevelt said that she saw him.  There is a legend that old Abe walks back and forth all night before something terrible is about to happen.  This paragraph mainly tells:

• what Lincoln's ghost is like

• when Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost walked

• hwo many ghosts the White House has

• how ghosts show when something will happen

What is a summary?

• A brief statement in your own words about the text. 

• When you state 

  just the facts and leave out your thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

• The main focus of the text.  

• The 

  details and facts 

  that 

  support and develop the central idea.