Write an Objective Summary

Model one Keep or Leave Out sentence aloud before students sort on their own. Have students count their words on Summarize a Story in 50 Words to keep summaries tight.

Sort sentences from How the Bicycle Got Its Shape, then write a 4-sentence objective summary. An objective summary tells the central idea and most important points of a text in your own words, without your opinions. The directions on the page read: Read the article. Then complete Parts A and B on page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade main idea and details, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with summarizing. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Opinions, feelings and small details. Summary or Opinion? marks lines like the attic smells like dust and old newspapers as minor details that do not belong.

It is a five-part frame that names the main character, the goal, the problem, the solution and the ending. Summarize a Story in 50 Words uses it before students write their summary.

Yes. Write an Objective Summary turns an article about the history of the bicycle, from 1817 to the 1890s, into a summary of exactly 4 sentences.