Summary Writing – The Easy Way

Do you struggle teaching kids to write summaries?

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I have always struggled with teaching students exactly how to write a summary. I either received summaries that were too short, or they turned in summaries that were 3 pages long. (Longer than the actual text they were referencing!)

After a much needed search of the internet, I found a technique that many other teachers recommend after using it in their classrooms.

A few weeks ago, I began implementing this little trick in my class. I am happy to announce the “light bulbs” are finally on and shining during summary writing in fourth grade!! I created a graphic organizer I wanted to share with you for free. Hopefully, this helps you too!! To the left, you will see the anchor chart I created to help kids remember the 5 words.  I plan on keeping this up all year. It has been so helpful! It is very important that students realize this technique works best with literature. I had many students try to this method when summarizing informational text, and they quickly discovered it didn’t work out so well.

Get this graphic organizer for free!

I would love to share this with you, as I can definitely say it has worked very well in my class. In order to get this awesome resource for free, please sign up for our monthly newsletter, and I will send you an immediate link to download this resource.  Signing up for the newsletter also grants you access to monthly freebies  just like this delivered right to your inbox! You may opt out anytime, of course! Oh.. and I’m just a normal 4th grade teacher, so I won’t be sending you crazy emails and spam all the time.. I promise! 🙂