You've practiced summarizing
text with a short narrative passage, and a poem. Here is a longer
story (just a little longer). As you read, watch for clues the
author gives you to help figure out what the story is about. Look
for topic sentences, introductory statements, and general statements.
Remember a summary is clear and concise and tells about the important
or essential events in the story. A summary covers the whole story,
not just part of it, or not just examples and details. It includes
information from the story, not the opinion of the author or the
reader. A folktale like this one, is fiction. You might not agree
with the ideas in the story, and writing a summary doesn't mean
the ideas are true. In a folktale like "How the Animals
Came to Earth," a summary still includes important information
from the story itself, not the opinions of the reader.
Instruction:
A
reading strategy to help you understand what you
read is to activate what you already know about
the story's topic. This gets your brain going and
creates a place where you can connect new information
from what you read. You have read folktales before
that explain how the world works. This story comes
from the Plantation Era in America and explains
where earth animals came from and also the phases
of the moon.
Read
the story "How the Animals Came to
Earth" written by Julius Lester,
linked to the book icon on the right.
Before
you read, create a note-taking chart to help you
figure out the main idea or what the story is
about. Fold your paper in half, the long way.
Label
one half: Important/Essential information.
Label the other half: Supporting Details and
fill in
the chart as you read.
Important/Essential
(might
be topic or concluding sentences)
Supporting
Details
(not part
of a summary)
animals used to live next door to the Moon, not on Earth,
until Brer Rabbit and Sister Moon started fighting
animals thought Sister Moon was pretty and never argued with
her.
Brer Rabbit said Sister Moon looked puny (too skinny, like
she was sick)
(your turn to add notes)
(your turn to add notes)
(more and more notes!)
(more and more notes!)
Question:
Which sentence best
tells what the story is about?
Yes
No
Maybe
Answer
A.
Brer Rabbit and Sister Moon were married,
but they got in an argument and split up. Sister Moon stayed
in the sky, and Brer Rabbit went to live on earth.
B.
The animals were concerned about Sister
Moon because they liked her and she looked like she was feeling
sick
C.
Brer Rabbit tried to help Sister Moon by going to visit Mr.
Man, but when he saw the vegetables and goats and pigs, he decided
to bring all the animals back to live on earth.
D.
Because of a misunderstanding he had
with Sister Moon, Brer Rabbit convinced the other animals to
leave their home near the moon, and jump to earth where they
have lived ever since.
