Nifty Fifty
Please feel free to change the name. This activity, which students in grades 3-11 have been able to do successfully, is perfect for teaching Standard #2. From “summarize the text” in grades 3-5 to “provide an objective summary of the text” in grades 6-8, this strategy will help all students. Multiple-choice questions -- Students need to be able to identify details that would be included in summaries and those details that would not.
Students also need to be able summarize well on some extended response questions. As I am sure you know, some students feel compelled to copy huge chunks of text; that group of students will especially benefit from this strategy because they have to determine what details can be omitted.
This strategy also goes to heart of what comprises strong reading: As readers, we are constantly sifting through information to determine details we need to remember.
One Way to Approach This Activity
1)Choose a section of text. Six to seven paragraphs (no more than 300 words) works well for this activity.
2)You will probably want to model the process with some of your classes. Break your text into sentences (sample attached).
3)Work with students to determine the most important details. You may want to work through all of the sentences in a paragraph at the same time.
4)Then work with students to turn details into more general statements. As you go through this step, you will be omitting some details . . . and some of your students will not be happy.
5)Most important point: Putting a cap of 50 words on the length of the summary will compel most students to zero in on what is most important—the big ideas or “big rocks” as Jenny called them.
6)Next, work with students to put the general ideas into sentences.
7)If your students will be working on a paper version of the summary, a grid is perfect. Here are the directions: Have your students draw four lines down the page. Once they draw four lines, they will have five separate columns. Next, have students count down ten lines and draw a line across the page. Students will have a table with fifty blocks.
8)If your students will be using computers for this activity, just open Word and model the building-sentences process in Word. The word count is shown on the screen, and you and your students know at any time whether you’re within the parameters of the word limit.
9)When students are ready to practice in small groups, if you can get enough computers (one for each small group), that would be wonderful. It’s far easier to take out and add words if you’re using technology.
10)Another variation that has worked well: Give students sheet protectors, and put a 50-block grid inside. Give students dry erase markers and let them summarize!
11)For this activity, your rubric will be the ideas that should be included in the summary. You will not give students the rubric until the activity is completed.
12)One more comment – You may choose to let students simply list the ideas without putting them into sentence form – If you choose this version (lists, phrases, not sentences), reduce the number of words to 35.
Possible Answers to the sections in the “Piracy” article
In the 1500s Francis Drake became a secret privateer for Queen Elizabeth I. Once he was lost at sea, but he didn’t die. He tricked the greatest Spanish ship and looted tons of treasures. Going home, he sailed around the world to avoid the Spanish. The happy Queen knighted him.
William Kidd, a pirate hunter for King William, had a terrible crew. They couldn’t capture pirates, so they became pirates, robbed ships, and deserted Kidd. He went to America, buried treasure, was found guilty, and hanged in London. His tar-covered body hung for years as a warning to would-be pirates.
The following page has a grid you may want to use inside sheet protectors.
Evaluating Information -- Summarizing
NIFTY FIFTY
An indented sentence signals a new paragraph.
Francis Drake
[12] Sometimes, kings and queens hired pirates to work for them.
Such hired pirates were called privateers.
In the late 1500s, Francis Drake was hired by the English Queen, Elizabeth I.
At the time, English was in a war with Spain.
The queen hired Drake to loot Spanish ships and settlements in the Americas.
Drake’s mission was a secret.
No one was to know that he was working for the Queen of England.
The Spanish already knew of Drake, and they were afraid of him.
They called him El Draque—the Dragon.”
Soon the Spanish would have more reason to fear him.
Drake sailed all the way around the tip of South America.
That is one of the most dangerous places in the world for ships.
The waters there are icy and rough.
Drake’s fleet made it through to the Pacific Ocean, but they were hit with the worst storm they had ever seen.
One of the supply ships was sunk.
Another ship became separated from the fleet.
Its captain sailed back to England.
He reported that Drake’s ship had sunk, but Drake was very much alive.
He began looting along the west coast of South America, seizing huge amounts of Spanish silver and gold.
Next, Drake heard about a great Spanish treasure ship.
He began searching for it and spotted the ship near the equator.
Drake could have fought the Spaniards, but he decided to trick them.
He threw a line of empty barrels overboard.
He kept the barrels attached to his ship.
When the barrels filled with water, they acted like brakes and slowed Drake’s ship down.
To the Spanish, it looked like a loaded cargo ship.
[16] The Spanish captain turned to greet this odd stranger.
When he hailed Drake’s ship, Drake quickly showed his cannons.
He demanded that the other captain “strike his colors”—or lower his country’s flag.
This was a sign of surrender.
The Spanish captain refused, so Drake and his crew attacked.
Drake’s ferocious pirates overwhelmed the Spaniards and looted the ship.
It carried 13 chests of silver coins, 26 tons of silver bars, and 80 pounds of gold.
Drake’s crew also found jewels, food, wine, and other valuables.
The entire haul was worth more than $108 million in today’s money!
Content with the treasure, Drake let the Spanish captain and his men sail away.
Now Drake knew that the Spanish would be watching for his ship.
Instead of sailing east, back to England, Drake turned west.
In doing so, he sailed around the world.
Drake arrived back in London on September 26, 1580.
Queen Elizabeth I declared him a knight, and he was known thereafter as Sir Francis Drake.
Today he is better known as a navigator than as a pirate.
The Reluctant Pirate: Captain Kidd
Some privateers were not as successful as Drake.
An example of a privateer who came to a bad end is William Kidd.
Kidd had been a privateer for England before he moved away to New York City.
There he lived the life of a wealthy sea captain, but he soon tired of that life and returned to England in 1695.
King William of England ordered Kidd to command a ship and to hunt pirates.
Kidd really didn’t want the job, but he wasn’t prepared to argue with the King, so Kidd agreed.
[20] Kidd and his crew began a long voyage.
He had hired his crew with one condition.
The crew wouldn’t get paid if they didn’t capture any pirate ships, but the pirates they were supposed to catch kept escaping, and, of course, so did the loot.
Finally, Kidd’s crew rebelled.
If they couldn’t capture pirates, they wanted to be pirates and rob English ships.
Kidd refused at first. He then decided that piracy might be the only way to keep his crew in line, so they captured a few small English ships.
They didn’t find much loot, however, so they took a larger ship.
That one was loaded with treasure.
Soon afterward, most of Kidd’s crew deserted, taking their shares with them.
Kidd decided to return to America, away from his life as a pirate.
First he sailed to Gardiner’s Island, off the coast of New York.
There, he buried the remains of his treasure.
Then he sailed to Boston, where he hoped to regain a respectable life.
But as soon as he arrived in Boston, he was placed in chains.
“Captain Kidd,” as he was called, was found guilty of piracy.
In 1701, he was hanged in London.
Kidd’s body was covered in tar.
He was left hanging on the gallows along the Thames River for many years—as a warning to would-be pirates.
Reading Workshop 1 – Additional Information (Morehead area) 1