My second graders are working very hard on their summarizing skills. We've been reading "Where The Wild Things Are" in an effort to strengthen our summing up abilities before moving on to more difficult non-fiction summarization.
Based on an end of class writing assessment, I've noticed something interesting. Despite the fact that we modeled the summary process multiple times, many students still couldn't help themselves from retelling their favorite detail in the story. "Max wears a wolf costume" was commonly included in student's writing.
I used the info I gathered form this assessment and planned a lesson that asks students to distinguish between the main ideas and details of the story. As I showed students pictures that detail the main events of the story, students wrote down a few details and the main idea or the "big idea" or the "most important thing happening" in a graphic organizer.
Students were quick to point out details such as "Max has a hammer." And "the moon is in the window." After a little support, students were able to focus on the main idea and were writing something like "Max made mischief and was sent to his room."
This experience has helped me to realize the importance of assessment as a tool for meeting students’ diverse needs. And it reminded me of how full of wonder kids are. Even though it isn’t a main idea, Max wearing his wolf costume is one of my favorite parts of the book, too.
