TOPIC: SCIENCE Life Cycles

Year Level: 4
Time: 60 minutes approximately
Content Description: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred
meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing
and evaluating texts (ACELY1692).
Relevant Elaborations: Finding the main idea of the text.
During this lesson: Students will be learning to find the main idea and then summarise
paragraphs of print-based text Plant and Animal Life Cycles using reciprocal teaching skills
taught in previous lesson.
LESSON INTRODUCTION:
The Hook Bring a seed in a jar and discuss with students any predictions in what the seed
might grow to look like. (Possible answers: flower, tree, particular plant).
Literacy learning intentions
We are learning to summarise paragraphs from the print based text Plant and Animal
Life Cycles.
Learning behaviours

I need to listen to others opinions.

I need to consider others thoughts to build understanding.
I need to read on and read back in text to understand meaning.

Success criteria for whole class

I am doing well if I contribute to at least three responses during the reciprocal reading

groups.
I am doing well if I understand how to summarise a text and complete a headlines
routine for at least three paragraphs I have read.

Success criteria for focus teaching group

I am doing well if I understand how to summarise a text and complete a headlines

routine for at least three paragraphs I have read.

I am doing well if I contribute to at least three responses during the reciprocal reading

group
I am doing well if I summarise the text in one or two sentences in the reciprocal
reading group.

Shared Text for whole class: Plant and Animal Life Cycles. (2003). USA: Delta Education.

Consider your role for whole class and focus group instruction:
Whole class: Shared reading modelling summarising strategies.
Focus group: Directing and facilitating reciprocal teaching.

BEFORE:

Explain what summarising is.

Ask students what is involved in summarising.

Ask them to think about prior experience about summarising from reciprocal reading
groups.

Explain that finding the main idea tells the reader what the whole text is about and
that is captures the theme or most significant parts of a text.

Point out that finding the main idea isnt that easy and requires careful reading

Explain that key words need to be found to find the main idea of the non-fiction text.
This can be done by looking at images, subheadings, texts.
Questions:

What might we read about from this text by looking at the images and sub headings?
(Key words: life cycles, animals, plants)

Why is it important to find main ideas? understanding the writers message,

understand a story or text, being able to tell someone a story without saying every
detail, focusing on the important parts, a good way to remember information.

DURING:

Ask a student to read first paragraph using shared reading strategy.

After reading the first paragraph of the text, clarify any unfamiliar vocabulary and
instruct students to look out for key words as another student reads the same
paragraph again.

After reading it a second time, model using questions to scaffold process of finding
the main idea in order to summarise the paragraph.
Questions:

What are some key words from the paragraph?

What details have stood out?

What is the information telling us?

Who is involved?

Why have the events taken place?

Where have the events taken place?

How has the situation taking place come about?

Together as a class, sequentially ask students provide a part they think is important
and ask them to write it on the board, ending up with one or two sentences summing
up the main idea of the paragraph read.

Record notes on process in finding main idea in order to summarise text.

AFTER:
1. Whole class activity/thinking routine to explore the text using the reading
comprehension strategy.

Students complete a headlines routine where they sum up each paragraph of the
print-based text in one to three words to capture the main idea of the paragraph.

Explain the activity and complete the first paragraph with the class and check
children know what to do.

Students complete thinking routine independently and share their answers with a
partner.

2. Focussed teaching group:

Four members at the linking and combining information in paragraphs-level meaning

will comprise of the focus group. Summarising comprehension strategy will extend in
this group using reciprocal teaching with summarising aspect as the focus using the
same text and learning intention.
Before Re-explain the structure of reciprocal reading.
During Facilitate reciprocal reading including predicting, clarifying, questioning
and summarising the information.
Example questions and answers:
Predicting What do you think this text is about? The life cycle of a plant, how plants
start of as seeds. What makes you say this? From the pictures, sub headings, key
words.
Clarifying Were your predictions right? Were there any unknown words?
Germinators, dormant, conifer.
Questioning What are most plants referred to as? Why do plants have a life cycle?
What else might have a life cycle?
Summarising What are some key words of the text? What is the main idea of the
text? How does the diagram of the seed help you understand its parts? A flower forms
fruits and seeds. A seed contains a tiny plant and stored food. It stays dormant, or not
growing, until it gets enough warmth and moisture. Then the seed splits open, and the
tiny plant sends out roots and shoots.
After Ask students to clarify what is involved in summarizing a text.

Assessment strategies:

Questioning and the students responses.

Have the students contributed to at least three responses and summarized text verbally

in one to two sentences during the reciprocal reading group?

Evidence of understanding key words and important details are mentioned in their
verbal summary of text.

LESSON CONCLUSION: Discussion with students asking few to choose a paragraph and
summarise the main idea using one or two sentences. This will determine whether the
students grasped how to summarise parts of a non-fiction text.