Is your child struggling with reading comprehension? As a parent, you can help your child in this area. Don’t just rely on the teacher to be the only educator in his or her life. You are your child’s first teacher, so take the time to discover ways of helping your child to succeed in school.
Learning to summarize a story is one way to improve your child’s reading comprehension skills.
Summary
Does your child know how to summarize a story after reading it? Summarizing helps children to focus solely on the most important ideas in the story. Students tend to want to include every detail, but summarizing teaches them to omit all insignificant information.
How to summarize
Children need to be able to explain what a story is mostly about. Your child could focus on who, what, where, when, why, and how as he or she begins to work on the summary.
If your child is completing a summary on a story, have him or her clarify what occurred in the beginning of the story. Next, have your child state the problem (conflict) of the story. Then ask him or her to explain how the problem was resolved.
Here is a basic example of a summary.
Main idea of the story: In the story, Johnny wants to show his father that he is responsible.
Three details to support the main idea: Therefore, Johnny starts cleaning his room each day. He does his homework without being prompted by his parents. Johnny also helps his younger siblings with their homework. As a result, Johnny’s dad is convinced that he is responsible.
Completed summary: In the story, Johnny wants to show his father that he is responsible. Therefore, Johnny starts cleaning his room each day. He does his homework without being prompted by his parents. Johnny also helps his younger siblings with their homework. As a result, Johnny’s dad is convinced that he is responsible.
Practice time
- Have your child choose a just right book (not too hard and not too easy text).
- Read the book aloud or have your child read the book aloud.
- After reading, ask your child to summarize the story.
If your child is having a difficult time with this assignment, stop and model the work. Children learn best once someone has demonstrated what is required.
Model the work
- Read one of your child’s books aloud.
- Use a graphic organizer to start your summary.
- Create a box with a line going down the middle. At the top (left side) of the box, write main idea (what the story is mostly about). At the top (right side) of the box, write supporting details. Then fill in the information inside the box. The main idea will be written in the left column, and the supporting details will be in the right column.
