Practice Summarizing
After reading a story or book (these can be
short stories, picture books, or novels) have your child summarize what they
have read. In class, I have an anchor chart that we are using to help
summarize. It is Somebody-Wanted-But-So.
Somebody – Who is/are
the main character(s)?
Wanted – What is/are
the main character(s) goal(s)?
But – What is the
conflict?
So – How is the
conflict resolved?
Students fill out a graphic organizer or
chart with the answers to these questions. After this is completed, students use
this information to write a summary. After practicing this several times,
students will no longer need to use the chart to create a summary. They will be
able to write a simple summary on their own.
Character Traits
Ask your child to explain some character
traits of one of the characters in the story or book. It is important to review
what character traits are so that your child is not simply saying that the
character is a boy or that they like to fish (these are not character traits).
Please click the link for a list of some character traits.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf
