Summarize definition for kids

Summarizing | Classroom Strategies | Reading Rockets

Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.

When to use:	Before reading	During reading	After reading
How to use:	Individually	With small groups	Whole class setting

What is summarizing?

In student-friendly terms, summarizing is telling the most important parts of a text, in your own words, in a much shorter way. Teaching summarizing shows students how to discern the essential ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what they read and acts as a check for comprehension. Summarizing is a complex skill that will continue to develop over time, as students read increasingly complex texts.

Why teach summarizing?

It helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support those ideas.
It enables students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth remembering.
It teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for more concise understanding.
Summarizing skills are applicable in almost every content area.

How to teach summarizing

Summarizing can be tricky, even for adults. The leap from retelling — which asks readers to recall the events in a story in logical order — to determining what is important or essential in a story and condensing the information into a summary, is a big one. A good way to scaffold young readers’ growing ability to summarize is to model and practice summarizing routines. The routine or structure that makes the most sense will be different depending on students’ age and experience.

Less experienced students

Try transitioning from structured routines for teaching story sequence, such as “Beginning, Middle, and End” and “First, Next, Then, Last”, to structured summarizing routines such as “Someone Wanted But So Then” or “Five-Finger (5Ws)” summarizing. These scaffolds give students a visual representation of their thinking and a way to structure their responses while prompting them to think about more than just the sequence of events.

More experienced students

For students who have had more practice identifying story elements and determining important ideas, try using more open-ended routines such as Sum it Up for $2.00 or other keyword-focused approaches to summarizing.
For students who are comfortable with the concept of main ideas and important details:

1. Begin by reading or by having students listen to the text selection to be summarized.

2. Ask students the following framework questions:

What are the main ideas?
What are the crucial details necessary for supporting the main ideas?
What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?

3. Have them use keywords or phrases to identify main points from the text.

Watch a demonstration: SWBST lesson (grade 2, whole-class)

In this virtual lesson, the teacher reads Little Chimp and the Termites aloud and models filling out a “Someone Wanted But So Then” (SWBST) graphic organizer. What is so powerful about this strategy is that the SWBST sheet itself, read as a series of sentences, is a summary of the book.

Watch a demonstration: summarization strategies (grades K–2)

The K–2 activities described in this video focus more explicitly on using story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution) as a basis for retelling and summarizing. The K-1 activities include oral summaries, illustrations, and acting out by students. The grade 2 is a small group retelling and summarizing activity with card prompts for story elements that can include a writing component.

Watch a demonstration: summarizing strategy

The teacher explains “Sum It Up for $2.00”, a strategy for summarizing using keywords from the text.

Collect resources

For a comprehensive list of summarizing activities, including a collection of non-written summary activities, see Quick Summarizing Strategies to Use in the Classroom.

Get the Gist, a resource from the U.K. National Behaviour Support Service includes many graphic organizers and lesson ideas.

Here's a lesson plan for helping students learn to summarize using Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Differentiate instruction

Provide sentence frames for oral and written summarizing lessons and activities.
Keep in mind that different summarizing routines can be used for the same text. If students are working independently or in pairs, you can vary the method they use to summarize.
Use visuals. Incorporate graphic organizers that use pictures rather than text as prompts and/or have students draw their summaries.
Guide students throughout the summary writing process. Encourage them to write successively shorter summaries, refining their written piece until only the most essential and relevant information remains.
Have students work together to answer summary questions and write responses. Consider pairing writers with emergent-writers and asking the writers to take dictation. This work prompts discussion about what’s important in the text and lets both students do the thinking work of summarizing.

Related strategies

See the research that supports this strategy

Jones, R. (2007). Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Summarizing. Retrieved 2008, January 29, from http://www.readingquest.org/strat/summarize.html.

Guthrie, J. T. (2003). Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: Practices of Teaching Reading for Understanding. In C. Snow & A. Sweet (Eds.), Reading for Understanding: Implications of RAND Report for Education (pp. 115-140). New York: Guilford.

Children's books to use with this strategy

Goose and Duck

By: Jean Craighead George

Age Level: 3-6

Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Fact and fiction combine in this story of migrating birds and imprinting behaviors by a well known naturalist.

Your Skin Holds You In

By: Becky Baines

Genre: Nonfiction

Age Level: 0-3

Reading Level: Pre-Reader

Everything you never knew you wanted to know about skin is presented in an engaging, light combination of photographs and drawn lines. The result is an informative book that can be shared in layers, demonstrating that "it's your skin that holds you in!"

Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship

By: Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, Paula Kahumbu

Genre: Nonfiction

Age Level: 6-9

Reading Level: Independent Reader

When a tsunami orphans a young hippopotamus, a group of concerned Malidi (on the east coast of Kenya) villagers figure out how to capture the 600 pound baby thus beginning his new life in an animal sanctuary with a new and unlikely companion — a 130 year old tortoise named Mzee. Full color photographs and straightforward text are used in this inspiring, appealing and true story told first by a young girl and her father.

Comments

Summarize Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

sum·ma·rize ˈsə-mə-ˌrīz

transitive verb

: to tell in or reduce to a summary

intransitive verb

: to make a summary

summarizable

ˌsə-mə-ˈrī-zə-bəl

adjective

summarizer noun

Synonyms

abstract
boil down
brief
digest
encapsulate
epitomize
outline
recap
recapitulate
reprise
sum up
synopsize
wrap up

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Example Sentences

I would like to take a moment to summarize the facts that I presented earlier. He summarized by saying we needed better planning and implementation. To summarize, we need better schools.

Recent Examples on the Web ChatGPT can summarize data and generate text, but doesn't possess the emotional intelligence of humans, according to Columbia Business School professor Oded Netzer. —Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2023 Post-healing, though, to summarize: Think contained, strategic engagement. —Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2023 The immunization schedules summarize current vaccine recommendations for children, adolescents and adults, but do not set vaccine requirements for schools or workplaces. —Janelle Chavez, CNN, 9 Feb. 2023 Now, Microsoft is rolling out an intelligent chatbot to live alongside Bing’s search results, putting AI that can summarize web pages, synthesize disparate sources, even compose emails and translate them into more consumers’ hands. —Reuters, NBC News, 7 Feb. 2023 Over the past few years, Google has been using AI to summarize more and more search results, surfacing information from sites rather than allowing users to click and explore themselves. —James Vincent, The Verge, 6 Feb. 2023 The early sections of the book summarize how mapmakers came to reckon with a part of the globe that remained largely unexplored by Europeans until recent centuries. —David James, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Jan. 2023 The report will summarize the science of climate change and its impacts on the nation. —Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 22 Nov. 2022 Many are using the technology to draft emails, generate ideas, write and troubleshoot bits of code and summarize research or meeting notes. —Time, 20 Jan. 2023 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'summarize. ' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler

The first known use of summarize was in 1832

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“Summarize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/summarize. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.

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Kids Definition

summarize

verb

sum·ma·rize ˈsəm-ə-ˌrīz

: to tell in or reduce to a summary

: to make a summary

summarizable

ˌsəm-ə-ˈrī-zə-bəl

adjective

summarizer noun

Mental retardation (MPD) in children

Children's Medical Center of Neurology and Pediatrics offers you a service for the treatment and prevention of mental retardation in children.

Mental retardation (MPD) in children is a violation in the formation and development of the child's mental functions and skills, lagging behind the norm of mental development in general, or any of its individual functions.

The peculiarities of children with mental retardation include not only mental underdevelopment (or delayed development), but also violations of the emotional-volitional sphere of the child, delays in intellectual growth. Children with mental retardation prefer play activities more, their thinking remains immature longer, and basic knowledge is specific and scarce. Most often, their intellectual level is much lower than that of their peers.

However, the diagnosis of DID is not clinical and all of the above is completely reversible.

The concept of mental retardation (PD)

The concept of mental retardation includes a complex mechanism of interaction with the outside world, every second analysis of ongoing changes, reactions to emerging problems.

Every day we pass through ourselves a huge amount of very different information, analyze, draw conclusions, store the received material in memory. This allows us, as a species, to successfully evolve, to exist in this difficult world. The timely development of mental skills and abilities in children allows them to become successful people in the future.

Today, more and more attention is paid to the intellectual development of children: teaching methods are being improved, work is being done with children with mental retardation, and the quality of education is improving. However, despite this, some children may experience learning difficulties, as well as the inability to master the school curriculum in its entirety.

Studies have shown that a child's readiness for intellectual activity is directly related to his mental and communicative development. And more and more parents are turning to pediatricians for help in order to prevent and correct possible delays and deviations in the psychomotor development of the child in time.

Causes and symptoms of mental retardation in children

Causes of mental retardation in children may include various factors:

brain damage due to congenital diseases of the child, impaired normal development;
mother's problems during pregnancy, difficult childbirth;
chronic diseases of the mother, use of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy, psychotropic drugs, etc.;
hereditary factors are also often the cause of the development of mental retardation in children;
unfavorable conditions at home, problems with education, poor care or complete neglect.

To identify the causes of developmental delay, it is necessary to undergo a comprehensive examination. Each person is unique and inimitable in his own way, so there are many individual concomitant factors that are, ultimately, the causes of the lag in the development of the child. Sign up to our specialists for the detection of ZPR at an early stage.

Symptoms of mental retardation in children are usually detected at 5 years of age. But there are some points that may indicate possible problems in the future and at an earlier age.

What you should pay attention to first of all:

lagging behind peers in the psycho-emotional sphere: as a rule, it manifests itself in a lack of self-control, serious mood swings, isolation and excessive emotional shyness;
problems with concentration: the child is not able to concentrate on any activity, is often distracted and switched to something else, while another activity is not able to take a long time;
problems with the perception of the surrounding reality: the child does not recognize objects, does not recognize simple schemes and contours of drawings;
deviations in the development of memory: there is no cognitive activity characteristic of peers, quickly forgets the material covered, the rules of games, etc. In play activities, the child is prone to monotonous actions, the plot does not differ in variety, is straightforward;
problems with the development of speech skills: manifested in a poor vocabulary;
general developmental delay, lack of thinking skills.

Diagnosis of mental retardation (PD) in children

In most cases, parents seek advice from specialists when the child is 7-8 years old, when the first problems with school performance occur. However, it is recommended to carry out the diagnosis of ZPR much earlier.

If you notice a slowdown in the development of motor skills or speech in a child, the appearance of problems with memory and attention, if there are difficulties in mastering the training program in kindergarten, then most likely your child is shown a diagnosis of mental retardation in order to identify symptoms, causes of mental retardation, if any are found, as well as the appointment of timely treatment, a corrective program and consultations of related specialists. The main diagnosis is possible only after a comprehensive diagnosis.

A neurologist deals with the treatment and development of children with mental retardation, he will help to find the cause of the disease. You can book a consultation right now!

Examination of a child with mental retardation is carried out by several methods: full-scale examinations by specialized specialists, neuropsychological testing, it may be necessary to do an MRI of the brain, CT and EEG.

Treatment of mental retardation in children

When the diagnosis of mental retardation is accurately made, the doctor prepares an individually tailored treatment in accordance with the developmental characteristics of each child individually. The rehabilitation program should be comprehensive, assistance should be provided not only by doctors and specialists, but also by parents.

The atmosphere in the family plays a fundamental role. A favorable outcome of the treatment of mental retardation in children largely depends on the behavior and mood of adults. It must always be remembered that such children require a special approach. It is necessary to praise the child as often as possible, to encourage, the support of parents will give him confidence. Communicate, try always and everywhere to discuss what you see with your child, ask him about his impressions, joke and laugh together, and let only a good mood be in your house. The result will not be long in coming. Over time, your child will definitely catch up with their peers, and all difficulties will be left far behind.

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What are calls and how can they be briefly defined? Nowadays, this is a small song for a group of children to sing or a poetic appeal to natural phenomena.

Historically, incantations are - ritual songs of an incantatory nature, accompanying the rite of clicking and including an obligatory verbal appeal to the object of the cry: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Sun, Earth, Rain, birds, etc., which live in invocations like animate beings. Calls are considered traditional, as they pass from generation to generation.

Wikipedia gives the following definition of :

Invocations is one of the types of invocation songs of pagan origin. They reflect the interests and ideas of the peasants about the economy and the family. For example, a rich harvest spell runs through all calendar songs; for themselves, children and adults asked for health, happiness, wealth.

Russian Humanitarian Encyclopedic Dictionary another definition:

CHALLENGES - a kind of ritual folklore: appeals to natural phenomena, elements with greetings and calls that have an incantatory and magical meaning ("Rain, rain, stop!", etc. ). The incantations were accompanied by ritual actions, the intonations of the call, the cry are felt in the tunes. Spells of spring were especially popular ("Spring, red spring, come, spring, with joy...", "Sandpiper, sandpiper, lock winter, unlock spring...").

Many of them are accompanied by play actions that imitate the process of peasant labor. The incantatory nature, incantations, images, fixed at the end of the song (for example, "the key and the lock to my words") connect the incantations with conspiracies and ritual sentences. They attached particular importance to the rite, the execution of which was supposed to cause the awakening of the earth and the onset of heat.

Calls were either shouted out with the intonation of a call, or had a drawn-out melody. It was necessary to say the call loudly so that spring would hear. In the southern Russian provinces they were sometimes sung to the beat of a round dance, coordinating the rhythm of singing with the measured step of the performers. Peasant women said: "It is a sin (fasting) to play songs these days, you can click" (Sheremeteva M.E.19thirty).

The rites associated with the welcome of spring were accompanied by the singing of the so-called stoneflies. They were not sung, but called (called out, shouted out), climbing the hillocks and roofs. They called for spring and parted with winter.

Clicks were usually accompanied by rituals with birds baked from the text (larks, waders). Birds were thrown up from a high place or attached to a pole, a roof on a thread so that they "fly" in the wind. All this was associated with the arrival of spring, the spring revival of the earth.

Spring! Spring is red!
Come to us with joy!
With great mercy!
With tall flax!
With a deep root!
With abundant bread!

Everyone knows the invocations with appeals to spring, to rain, to the sun, to summer, to birds (larks), to the rainbow.

At school, incantations are studied in different classes:

in the 2nd grade, children read short incantations;
in the 3rd grade, children are offered to compose a song - a call;
in the 4th grade, schoolchildren study invocations with appeals to nature;
in grade 5, children define what a call is.
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