Literacylesson 2

Lesson Title: Dinosaurs: Summarizing/Paraphrasing Information
Grade Level: 4th grade
Class Time: 45 min
Subject Integration: Science
Brief Overview: Students will read an informational text about dinosaurs and paraphrase to summarize the main ideas. Students will
learn the difference between the essence (whats important) and the rich details that make a text interesting.
Learning Outcomes: Students will paraphrase and summarize an informational text.
Students will demonstrate the ability to differentiate between main concepts and supporting details.
Students will gain an understanding of dinosaurs: types, reason for extinction, and other characteristics.
Common Core Standard:
RI.4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
RI.4.10: By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in
the grades 45 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
AASL Standard:
1.1.1 Follow an inquiry based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects.
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences
and gather meaning.
1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding.
AASL / ESIFC Skill:
Paraphrases, summarizes information that answers research questions. (IFC-Grade 4)
Identifies facts and details that support main ideas. (IFC-Grade 4)
Draws a conclusion about the main idea. (IFC- Grade 4)
Accommodations/
Modifications for
All Learners
J. Brown - 2016
Learning/Teaching Activities CT=Classroom Teacher L=Librarian

Librarian will read the book aloud and show the students pictures for the
auditory and visual learners.
Librarian will repeat the directions several times to increase understanding.
Students will work in partners to share ideas and provide support for each
other.
Students will use post-it notes to record their thinking and a note form to
Resources
organize their thoughts.

Direct Instruction
J. Brown - 2016
Hook:
Librarian: Today we are going to be reading an informational text about
dinosaurs. Who can tell me what an informational text is and how it is
different from the fiction books we have been discussing recently?
Does anyone want to share what they may already know about dinosaurs
before we begin reading?
Students share any information that they already know about dinosaurs
while the teacher records their thinking.
Instruction
Students receive a copy of the book to follow along with the Librarian
Librarian: Even before I start reading this book, I have flipped through it
and can see that it has a lot of great pictures with captions and diagrams.
Just looking at all of the information quickly makes me a little
overwhelmed by the amount of material and how I am going to figure out
whats really important. So the first time I read through the book with you
today, I am going to focus summarizing the text in my own words.
Librarian reads first paragraph aloud with students following along.
Librarian: Now I am going to go back through and find the most important
information to put it into my own words or paraphrase the material. I am
also going to pull out any information that seems interesting or relevant to
the main idea.
Librarian finds information and writes a paraphrased summary on a post it
note or more as needed, talking through the process for the students to
follow along.
Librarian discusses how the information in the captions and diagrams are
usually very interesting but not always main ideas.
Librarian: I am going to now use a note form to help me organize the
information that I just summarized into whats important (main idea) and
whats interesting (details). In order to figure out which one is the main
idea, I will read over my notes and identify which one seems to cover all
the other details under it. In other words, what fact seems to be the biggest
and most important on this page.
Copies of the book

Post-it Notes
Notes Page (Whats
Important/Whats
Interesting)
Guided Practice
Librarian reads through the post-it notes and finds the main idea and
details. The notes are then posted in the correct column on the organizer.
Librarian reads next paragraph aloud.

Librarian asks students to identify the most important information and to
put it into their own words. All ideas are welcomed and written down.
Students are reminded that captions/diagrams usually contain interesting
details, not main ideas.
Librarian returns to the organizer: Whats Important/Whats Interesting?
All of the student-generated post-it notes are read over with the class and
students decide with Librarian if they describe the main idea or a
supporting detail and are placed in the correct column.
Repeat process as needed.
Students are placed in small groups and given post-it notes and the Notes
Post-It Notes
Page to organize their thoughts
Notes Page
Students work together to summarize the next chapter using their post-it
notes to paraphrase important information and then deciding if the
information is a main idea or an interesting supporting fact.
Librarian and Teacher walk around the room and monitor/assist as needed.
Students come back as a whole class to share their information.
Teacher calls on different groups of students to share their summaries with
the class as well as the interesting details they found.
Teacher asks students to write on an exit slip 2 facts they learned about
dinosaurs today.
Students hand in exit slips and Notes Page
Librarian and Teacher monitor progress while walking around during Independent Practice.
Exit slips and Notes Page are examined to determine comprehension of the learning outcomes.
Independent
Practice
Closing/
Sharing/
Reflection
Assessment(s)
Resources/Activities for Extending the Learning: This lesson can be used at the beginning of a unit about dinosaurs where students
gain introductory background about their topic before narrowing down their research question for further exploration. Students can
choose to learn more about dinosaurs on their own as well by checking out more informational texts from the library. This lesson can
also be used as an introduction to reading informational texts for research of any topic.
J. Brown - 2016

Literacylesson 2

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Lesson Title: Dinosaurs: Summarizing/Paraphrasing Information

Grade Level: 4th grade

Class Time: 45 min

Subject Integration: Science

Learning/Teaching Activities CT=Classroom Teacher L=Librarian

organize their thoughts.

Copies of the book

Librarian reads next paragraph aloud.

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