Pinduli and Summarizing FREEBIES!

Let’s talk Summarizing!  I get a lot of questions like “Isn’t August/September too early to introduce summarizing?”  And I say ABSOLUTELY NOT!  As long as students are guided and supported, you can introduce many different concepts at the beginning of the year.  Should I expect them to do it all on their own?  Of course not!  But, if I provide lots of modeling and demonstration, then they will feel successful!

Here’s what summarizing looked like in 3rd grade class I visited during the second week of school.  We read Pinduli, which is an absolutely PRECIOUS book.  If you LOVE Stellaluna, you will LOVE Pinduli!  This is one of the four books included in our Rooted in Reading August for 3rd grade.

{Directed Drawing, Vocab Cards, and Comprehension Questions are all a part of our Rooted in Reading Curriculum.  Click HERE to see}

As we were reading the story, students helped me to describe Pinduli.  We stopped to talk about the main character and what was going on throughout the story.  We also added sticky notes to our anchor chart that contained adjectives to describe the main character.  {This anchor chart can be found in THIS pack}

After reading the story we went directly into talking about the parts of a summary.  We used the strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, Finally for this book.  Sometimes I leave off the Finally, but since they are 3rd graders I went ahead and added that in.  We used these posters to retell the story.

After verbally retelling the story, it was time to write down our summary.  I kept this VERY simple.  We didn’t retell every detail or go into a lot of depth with our summary.  I just wanted students to get a grasp of retelling using this strategy.  So, I added their ideas to the chart as we were discussing.  Is it perfect?  NOPE!  But, it is a great introduction!

As I was charting, the students were using these summarizing flap-ups to follow along with me.  We glued them to the outside of a file folder, but that’s only because I accidentally ordered a gazillion over the summer.  Actually 700.  But, I don’t need 700 file folders, so I am trying to use them here and there 🙂

Once students had written their summary on their flap-ups, we did a directed drawing of Pinduli.  This was after we had discussed the summary and retold the story until we all had it mastered!  Students put their directed drawing inside of their file folder.

We didn’t get to the writing page today, but students also stapled in a Pinduli writing sheet.  This is where students will retell the story in their own words using the assistance from their SWBSTF flap-ups.  Since we did that part together, I wanted something to hold the students accountable for summarizing on their own.  So, they had the flaps on the outside and the writing page/directed drawing on the inside!

And that’s a wrap!  If you’d like a set of summarizing freebies, you have come to the right place!  I’ve got an anchor chart, summarizing posters, and flap-ups all in one easy download!  Subscribe to my newsletter below and you’ll go through the steps of receiving your freebie!  For the entire week of Pinduli plans click HERE!