Writing a Summary of Nonfiction: Powerpoint

Helping kids to summarize nonfiction is hard. Not only do kids have to read and understand the text, but they also have to figure out what's important, how to put ideas in their own words, and how to organize the summary. No wonder kids have so much trouble!

This Powerpoint can give you a place to start. (Some people watch late-night television when they're up in the middle of the night with a cold; I write Powerpoints!) It's short enough to do in just one class period, and can be either an introduction or a review. This slideshow presents four rules for summarizing, explains them, and models how to put them into practice with a short text.

And there are lots of pictures of butterflies, too.