4th Grade

Writing

April 13-17

bull School websites also have links to great websites for practicing grade-level skills

4th Grade Writing

Week 1 April 13-17

A Poewi A Week

Write a Spring Poem focus on images (capture how something looks

tastes smells feels and sounds)

Poetry uses the sound and rhythm of words to suggest images and express feelings

Rhyme is the repeated sounds at the end of two or more words It helps give a poem rhythm and form

Read the To a Red Kite by Lilian Moore Create your own spring poem a word bank is provided You can also illustrate it

Spring Poem Word Bank

Spring flowers tulips daffodils

Showery blossoms blooming galoshes grass green grow

animals chicks bunnies foals April eggs hatch born

Grammar pages 283284285

Use The 4th Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice packet as a

guide to write a summary for the article Magician of the Sea

8rAi11 Worluuf Inventing a Robot worksheet

TOAREDIGTE

Fling yourself upon the sky

Take the string you need Ride high

high above the park Tug and buck and lark with the wind

Touch a cloud red kite

Follow the - ild geese middot in their fhgh t

Lilian Moore

(3 3)

l q g g Sclplo~+ic rrc

Name ___________ _ Date ____ _

Comparativemiddot Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOTEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

A comparative adjective compares one person place or thing to another To form a comparative adjective you can usually add -er to the adjective If the adjective ends in y change they to i before adding -er

adjective comparative adjective

Jacob is taller than Josh The weather is drier today than yesterday

Josh is tall The weather is dry today

1-4 Write the comparative form of the adjective in each sentence 1 I think that spring feels (warm) ______ than winter

2 My dog seems hungry but your dog looks ------

3 Maddie is sbort but Cindy is _____ _

4 Her song is lovely but I think your song sounds _____ _

Some comparative adjectives are formed by adding the word more Usually longer adjectives form the comparative this way

Joe is more polite than Henry

Thinking Questions Are there two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -er or use more

5-8 Write the -comparative form of each adjective 5 Sally felt (miserable) ___ ____ when she knew

she had the flu

6 That company is (efficient) ________ than its

competitor

7 Will you feel (comfortable) ________ sitting here

8 Tonights dinner tastes delicious) than

last nights

Grammar 283 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Name ___________ _ Date _ ___ _

Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOfEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs

When we use adjectives to compare more than two persons places or things we use the superlative form of the adjective To form a superlative adjective add

-est or write most before the adjective _____

Adjective Comparative Superlative happy happier happiest

complex more complex most complex

Emily is luckier than Mary but Alyssa is the luckiest of all

Without a map Gregory is more confused than ~ew but Edwin is the most confused

Thinking Questions Are there more than two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -est 0r use most

1-5 Write the correct form of the adjective in parentheses to complete the sentence

1 A rose is pretty but Tom thinks an orchid is (pretty)

2 Susan says that of all the flowers the peony is the (pretty)

3 This tulip is the (bright) ______ shade of red Ive

ever seen

4 Carrie told him that lavender smells (wonderful)

5 Trees grow the (tall) ______ of all plants

Grammar 284 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

4th Grade Writing

Week 1 April 13-17

A Poewi A Week

Write a Spring Poem focus on images (capture how something looks

tastes smells feels and sounds)

Poetry uses the sound and rhythm of words to suggest images and express feelings

Rhyme is the repeated sounds at the end of two or more words It helps give a poem rhythm and form

Read the To a Red Kite by Lilian Moore Create your own spring poem a word bank is provided You can also illustrate it

Spring Poem Word Bank

Spring flowers tulips daffodils

Showery blossoms blooming galoshes grass green grow

animals chicks bunnies foals April eggs hatch born

Grammar pages 283284285

Use The 4th Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice packet as a

guide to write a summary for the article Magician of the Sea

8rAi11 Worluuf Inventing a Robot worksheet

TOAREDIGTE

Fling yourself upon the sky

Take the string you need Ride high

high above the park Tug and buck and lark with the wind

Touch a cloud red kite

Follow the - ild geese middot in their fhgh t

Lilian Moore

(3 3)

l q g g Sclplo~+ic rrc

Name ___________ _ Date ____ _

Comparativemiddot Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOTEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

A comparative adjective compares one person place or thing to another To form a comparative adjective you can usually add -er to the adjective If the adjective ends in y change they to i before adding -er

adjective comparative adjective

Jacob is taller than Josh The weather is drier today than yesterday

Josh is tall The weather is dry today

1-4 Write the comparative form of the adjective in each sentence 1 I think that spring feels (warm) ______ than winter

2 My dog seems hungry but your dog looks ------

3 Maddie is sbort but Cindy is _____ _

4 Her song is lovely but I think your song sounds _____ _

Some comparative adjectives are formed by adding the word more Usually longer adjectives form the comparative this way

Joe is more polite than Henry

Thinking Questions Are there two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -er or use more

5-8 Write the -comparative form of each adjective 5 Sally felt (miserable) ___ ____ when she knew

she had the flu

6 That company is (efficient) ________ than its

competitor

7 Will you feel (comfortable) ________ sitting here

8 Tonights dinner tastes delicious) than

last nights

Grammar 283 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Name ___________ _ Date _ ___ _

Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOfEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs

When we use adjectives to compare more than two persons places or things we use the superlative form of the adjective To form a superlative adjective add

-est or write most before the adjective _____

Adjective Comparative Superlative happy happier happiest

complex more complex most complex

Emily is luckier than Mary but Alyssa is the luckiest of all

Without a map Gregory is more confused than ~ew but Edwin is the most confused

Thinking Questions Are there more than two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -est 0r use most

1-5 Write the correct form of the adjective in parentheses to complete the sentence

1 A rose is pretty but Tom thinks an orchid is (pretty)

2 Susan says that of all the flowers the peony is the (pretty)

3 This tulip is the (bright) ______ shade of red Ive

ever seen

4 Carrie told him that lavender smells (wonderful)

5 Trees grow the (tall) ______ of all plants

Grammar 284 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

TOAREDIGTE

Fling yourself upon the sky

Take the string you need Ride high

high above the park Tug and buck and lark with the wind

Touch a cloud red kite

Follow the - ild geese middot in their fhgh t

Lilian Moore

(3 3)

l q g g Sclplo~+ic rrc

Name ___________ _ Date ____ _

Comparativemiddot Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOTEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

A comparative adjective compares one person place or thing to another To form a comparative adjective you can usually add -er to the adjective If the adjective ends in y change they to i before adding -er

adjective comparative adjective

Jacob is taller than Josh The weather is drier today than yesterday

Josh is tall The weather is dry today

1-4 Write the comparative form of the adjective in each sentence 1 I think that spring feels (warm) ______ than winter

2 My dog seems hungry but your dog looks ------

3 Maddie is sbort but Cindy is _____ _

4 Her song is lovely but I think your song sounds _____ _

Some comparative adjectives are formed by adding the word more Usually longer adjectives form the comparative this way

Joe is more polite than Henry

Thinking Questions Are there two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -er or use more

5-8 Write the -comparative form of each adjective 5 Sally felt (miserable) ___ ____ when she knew

she had the flu

6 That company is (efficient) ________ than its

competitor

7 Will you feel (comfortable) ________ sitting here

8 Tonights dinner tastes delicious) than

last nights

Grammar 283 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Name ___________ _ Date _ ___ _

Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOfEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs

When we use adjectives to compare more than two persons places or things we use the superlative form of the adjective To form a superlative adjective add

-est or write most before the adjective _____

Adjective Comparative Superlative happy happier happiest

complex more complex most complex

Emily is luckier than Mary but Alyssa is the luckiest of all

Without a map Gregory is more confused than ~ew but Edwin is the most confused

Thinking Questions Are there more than two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -est 0r use most

1-5 Write the correct form of the adjective in parentheses to complete the sentence

1 A rose is pretty but Tom thinks an orchid is (pretty)

2 Susan says that of all the flowers the peony is the (pretty)

3 This tulip is the (bright) ______ shade of red Ive

ever seen

4 Carrie told him that lavender smells (wonderful)

5 Trees grow the (tall) ______ of all plants

Grammar 284 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Name ___________ _ Date ____ _

Comparativemiddot Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOTEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

A comparative adjective compares one person place or thing to another To form a comparative adjective you can usually add -er to the adjective If the adjective ends in y change they to i before adding -er

adjective comparative adjective

Jacob is taller than Josh The weather is drier today than yesterday

Josh is tall The weather is dry today

1-4 Write the comparative form of the adjective in each sentence 1 I think that spring feels (warm) ______ than winter

2 My dog seems hungry but your dog looks ------

3 Maddie is sbort but Cindy is _____ _

4 Her song is lovely but I think your song sounds _____ _

Some comparative adjectives are formed by adding the word more Usually longer adjectives form the comparative this way

Joe is more polite than Henry

Thinking Questions Are there two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -er or use more

5-8 Write the -comparative form of each adjective 5 Sally felt (miserable) ___ ____ when she knew

she had the flu

6 That company is (efficient) ________ than its

competitor

7 Will you feel (comfortable) ________ sitting here

8 Tonights dinner tastes delicious) than

last nights

Grammar 283 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Name ___________ _ Date _ ___ _

Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOfEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs

When we use adjectives to compare more than two persons places or things we use the superlative form of the adjective To form a superlative adjective add

-est or write most before the adjective _____

Adjective Comparative Superlative happy happier happiest

complex more complex most complex

Emily is luckier than Mary but Alyssa is the luckiest of all

Without a map Gregory is more confused than ~ew but Edwin is the most confused

Thinking Questions Are there more than two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -est 0r use most

1-5 Write the correct form of the adjective in parentheses to complete the sentence

1 A rose is pretty but Tom thinks an orchid is (pretty)

2 Susan says that of all the flowers the peony is the (pretty)

3 This tulip is the (bright) ______ shade of red Ive

ever seen

4 Carrie told him that lavender smells (wonderful)

5 Trees grow the (tall) ______ of all plants

Grammar 284 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Name ___________ _ Date _ ___ _

Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Lesson 21 READERS NOfEBOOK

The World According to Humphrey

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs

When we use adjectives to compare more than two persons places or things we use the superlative form of the adjective To form a superlative adjective add

-est or write most before the adjective _____

Adjective Comparative Superlative happy happier happiest

complex more complex most complex

Emily is luckier than Mary but Alyssa is the luckiest of all

Without a map Gregory is more confused than ~ew but Edwin is the most confused

Thinking Questions Are there more than two persons places or things being compared Does the adjective end in -est 0r use most

1-5 Write the correct form of the adjective in parentheses to complete the sentence

1 A rose is pretty but Tom thinks an orchid is (pretty)

2 Susan says that of all the flowers the peony is the (pretty)

3 This tulip is the (bright) ______ shade of red Ive

ever seen

4 Carrie told him that lavender smells (wonderful)

5 Trees grow the (tall) ______ of all plants

Grammar 284 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Lesson 21 READERS bullNOTEBOOK Name ____ ______ _ _ Date ____ _

The World According to Humphrey Comparative and Superlative

Grammar Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs Forms of Adverbs

Adverbs often work with verbs and tell how when or where an action happens They are used with actionmiddot verbs and many end with -ly A comparative adverb

compares the action of two or more things The word more is often used A superlative adverb -compares the action of more than two things The word most is often used

Adverb Comparative Superlative Thinking Questions Does the adverb end in

slowly more slowly most slowly -ly Is the word more

soon sooner soonest ____ or most added

promptly more promptly most promptly

Use a comparative or superlative adverb for each blank below Use the list on the right to help you complete the sentences

1 Although many musicians were loud Donald played

the trumpet ____ _

2 Sarah could add numbers _____ than her

brother

3 Jerry ran ____ than his best friend

4 Of all my friends Carmin lives ____ _

5 Marty worked ____ on the project than his

partner

6 Jeremy answered the question _____ __ _

of the three contestants

louder loudest more quickly most quickly more completely most completely closer closest harder hardest faster fastest

Grammar 285 Grade 4 Unit 5 copy Houghton Mittlin Harcourl Publishing Company All righls reserved

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Summary Writing Instruction and Practice

Directions bull Read through the writing instruction pages Steps to Writing a

Summary Paragraph bull Practice writing a summary paragraph using the example selection

Snow bull Then use the practice selections or choose about a five paragraph

selection from your science or history book and practice writing a summary paragraph

bull When you feel comfortable with the summary writing process complete your yearly school-wide writing sample assignment

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 1 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph 1 Read the entire selection Plan your topic sentence using the three part topic

sentence graphic organizer called NAME IT - VERB IT - FINISH IT Memorize and draw this topic sentence organizer when planning the topic sentence for your writing assignment Refer to the verb chart when selecting the verb

a Topic Sentence Blank graphic organizer

b Topic Sentence Graphic organizer explained

NAME IT VERB IT FINISH IT

Identify the text (genre title author) Genre usually an article Titles of articles are always in quotes Titles of books are underlined

Select a verb explains

(See verb chart for more verb

Finish your thought Finish the sentence with the main idea of the text

(See titles chart for quoteunderline) suggestions)

2 Re-write your writing assignment topic sentence from your graphic organizer ontc the lines below to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

3 Now for your paragraphs use a different graphic organizer (shown below) Draw c graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection you are to summarize (If yo have five paragraphs you would draw five lines that are divided down your planni page) Re-read the selection As you read circle one main idea word in each paragraph and underline 5 key words in each paragraph The main idea word will often be in first sentence of each paragraph It is also often the word that is repeated most in the paragraph

Main Paragraph Word Five Key Words (separated by commas)

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 2 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

4 Make paragraph key word outlines When you have finished identifying one main word and five key words in each paragraph write the words from paragraph one o graphic organizer one the words from paragraph two on graphic organizer two1 et and do this for all the paragraphs DO copy the main and key words from the selection onto your organizers Check them for spelling DO NOT copy long phrai or whole sentences

(Paragraph 1)

(Paragraph 2)

(Paragraph 3)

(Paragraph 4)

(Paragraph 5)

5 Once you have completed the planning phase (topic sentence and paragraph organizers) you are ready to write your summary paragraph

bull Begin your summary paragraph with your topic sentence Remember to indent this sentence bull Use the main and key words from paragraph one to write the next 1-3 sentences bull Use the main and key words from paragraph two to write the next 1-3 sentences Do bull this for all paragraphs If there are a lot of short paragraphs or the paragraphs have a bull lot of dialogue you may want to simply divide the selection into your own arbitrary paragraphs bull for planning purposes bull When you are done you should have one summary paragraph that begins with an indent and bull that is only about 13 tofrac14 as long as the original selection bull Use the Summary Writing Checklist to make sure you have met the requirements of a bull good summary paragraph

6 Scoring bull Refer to the schools Summary Writing Scoring Rubric and score your paper bull Give your summary to someone else to score and see how your scores compare

Discuss differences in scoring to determine why the scores were different This will help you to learn and understand the scoring rubric

Summary Writing Topic Sentence Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 3 oflO Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Verbs for Verb It

List A A good place to start The word explains works as a verb for most topic sentences but it is not very specific Once you get used to writing topic sentences for summaries try using some of the other words that are more vivid and precise

_ explai_ns

describes

lists

List B Now tr~ these

acknowledges

adds

advises

asserts

blames

confirms

confronts

considers

contrasts

critiques

demonstrates

denounces

discourages

endorses

teaches

tells

gives

shows

evaluates

explores

expresses

features

furnishes

names

offends

offers

predicts

proposes

provides

traces

answers

asks

clarifies

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

compares

presents

defines

-b~cA1t~

supports

confuses

defends

depicts

encourages

illustrates

invites

judges

misjudges

praises

recommends

simplifies

solves

suggests

captures

Page 4 of 10

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Titles When Do I Underline ( or Italicize) When Do I Use Quotation Marks

All titles must either be put in quotation marks or underlined (use italics when keyboarding) Most of the time the selection you will be asked to summarize will be an article of some kind and titles of articles are always put in quotes

Use Quotation Marks for Use Underline (or Italics) for newspaper article titles title of books magazine article titles name of magazines poem titles name of newspapers short story titles title of plays song titles title of films episodes of radio shows name of encyclopedias episodes of television shows title of long poems subdivisions of books title of radio programs

title of comic strips title of software title of pieces of art

To help you remember whether to use quotes or underline a title ask yourself Would I carry this text under my arm or put it in a file folder

FILE FOLDER = Quotes UNDER THE ARM = Underline (or Italics)

Under the Arm You could carry a book a newspaper a magazine or one volume to a set of encyclopedias under your arm The titles of a book newspaper magazine or encyclopedia are underlined When you think of a play the script of a movie and the script of a television program typed and bound it would be big enough to carry under your arm

File Folder Think of a file folder when you want to remember what gets quotation marks If you could carry the item in a file folder the title of the item willneed quotation marks when you write it out A poem the lyrics to a song and an article from the daily paper could all fit into your file folder so the titles of these items all need quotation marks

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 5 of 10 Steps to Writing a s middotummary Paragraph

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph - Example

Snow A blanket of fresh snow can brighten a winter landscape But snow is more than

just beautiful It is helpful too Snow benefits plant0nimals and people in many ways ------

Snow helfeS plants that stay in the ground all winter It does not kill plants It acts as a shield Snow ra~ ~beneath it This air is warmer than the air above the snow The warm air surrounds and grotects plants Biting winter winds cannot reach them Ice storms and bitter cold cannot harm them Plants stay alive-through the worst weather

SnoII hel1s animals too Some animals nest below ground They spend the whole winter here A blanket of snow serves to keep the nests warm Other animals do not nest below_ground They tunnel into the snow itself They make nests there Compared with the cold air above snow nests are cozy -=-

Snow also benefits people It helps many peoplemiddotmiddotearn a living Some communities are cmiddoterlters for yJinter spp11sect Many visitors go there to ski People who live and w_tllt in these communities need snow Without it they would have no business --- middot

Snow is useful even when it melts Melting snow runs into wells It flows into rivers and streams These supply water to towns and cities Farms benefit from melting snow as well Some areas are dry in summer They get little rain Nearly all their water comes from melted snow The water is stored in dammed-up lakes and ponds It is used during the growing season to water fields and orchards Without this water supply there could be no crops In this way the summer harvest depends on winter snow

NOTE The selections chosen for summarization practice should be at or below the childs reading level If you find the selection is too difficult for your child simply find a selection from a lower reading level The intent is to allow your child to practice summarizing information while hopefully discovering that writing can be a pleasurable experience Difficult words are often chosen as one of the key outline words and will be copied from the source text onto the outline and from the outline to the final paragraph So dont be afraid to use paragraphs with words that your child cannot spell Copying the spelling of the key words (but not long phrases or sentences) from the source paragraph onto the key word outline and then to the final paragraph is a good skill for your child to develop and should be encouraged

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 6 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph middot

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Now lets practice writing a summary paragraph

1 Read through the entire selection entitled Snow On your planning paper draw the graphic organizer for the topic sentence and compete it with the required information Yours should look something like this (only the words on the bottom)

i NAME IT ~gentify the item (genre title author)

The article Sridw

VERB IT Select a verb

explains

FINISH IT Finish your thought

middot~ ( now snow is helpful to people plants and animals _ -

-

2 Write the complete topic sentence onto your planning paper from the graphic organizer to look like a real sentence Fix spelling and capitalization errors Remember to indent

The article 11 Snow explains how snow is helpful to people plants and

animals

3 On your planning paper draw one paragraph graphic organizer for each paragraph in the selection

4 Re-read the selection As you read circle one main word and underline five key Words in each paragraph When done readingmarking complete your paragraph graphic organizers as shown below (yours will have the words you chose)

(Paragraph 1) beautiful helpful people plants animals man

(Paragraph 2) plants shield traps air wind ice --- -------t------------------

(Paragraph 3) animals nest below ground blanket tunnel - ----- ---+------ ____ ______ ___ _

(Paragraph 4) people community center earn living sports ---------1--- --- -------~------ -

(Paragraph 5) melt water supply farm orchard

Fourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 7 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

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NOTE As you can see by looking at the example paragraph graphic organizers occasionally a key word might be two words and sometimes not all five key words are needed to get the main idea and details from a paragraph These deviations are OK However avoid copying long phrases of words or whole sentences Remember that copying and checking the spelling of the main idea and key words is a good skill and is encouraged

5 Now using your topic sentence and paragraph graphic organizers write your final paragraph Remember to indent and double space

Here is how this students final paragraph looked The main idea paragraph words are italicized (not circled as your paper will be) and the five key words are underlined to show you how the words from the graphic organizer were incorporated into the final paragraph You will not make the circle and underline markings on your final paragraph The marks will only be on your selection when you read and marked it during the planning

phase

Snow

The article Snow explains how snow is beautiful but

more importantly helpful to plants animals and people It is

helpful to plants by providing them a shield that traps warm

air to protect them from the wind and ice Snow helps

animals that nest below the ground by providing them with a

protective blanket Some animals even tunnel into the snow

because it is warmer inside a snow cave than outside it

Many people who live in snowy areas earn their living from

people who come to their community centers for winter

sports Melted snow is also good because it provides water

for the water supply and for farms and orchards

6 Now check your work using the Summary Writing Checklist F_ourth Grade Summary Writing Instruction and Practice Page 8 of 10 Steps to Writing a Summary Paragraph

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

Name _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ _ _

MAGICIAN OF THE SEA by Kelly Hashway

What do three hearts eight arms and one huge

brain add up to An octopus a creature that can do

amazing things

Octopuses are extremely intelligent They can learn

new things just like humans Theyve even learned a few

tricks to get them out of sticky situations If an octopus is

threatened by a predator such as a shark or bird it can

use some pretty incredible skills to get away Octopuses dont have teeth or sharp claws to

defend themselves Instead they use more clever ways to fool their attackers Octopuses like

to hide themselves in the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor How you ask Well the

octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand

And this color change or camouflage happens in less than a minute

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral

Because octopuses are invertebrates meaning they dont have backbones they can squeeze

themselves into small spaces between the rocks to get out of reach of their predators Another

way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon

to shoot ink into the water The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus By the time the ink

clears and the predator can see again the octopus has swum away or hidden Its very much

like a magician doing a vanishing act

Super Teacher Worksheets - w wwsuperteacherworksheetscom

If you think thats a neat trick then youll love what else these creatures have up their

sleeves If an octopus is being attacked it can actually make itself look like a venomous sea

snake It will bury itself in the sand keeping two arms visible It will change the color of those

arms to match a sea snake But what if theres no time to hide If an octopus is in trouble it can

break off one of its arms The arm will then change colors and squirm around in the water to

distract the predator while the octopus swims away to safety Dont worry though The

octopuss arm will grow back

There is one kind of octopus that has venom to use in defense The blue-ringed octopus is

tiny it could fit in the palm of your hand Predators might think this size makes the octopus a

great snack but they know to stay away The blue-ringed octopus is very poisonous and can

kill predators much larger than itself including

humans

So the next time you see an octopus in the

aquarium or while youre snorkeling remember that

inside that oversized head is a very large brain

making them a clever addition to the sea

About the Author

Kelly Hashways latest book May the Best Dog Win is now available

Dash has the perfect life until the Super Sweeper 5000 shows up Sweeper

runs all over the house sucking up the leftover food scraps and he even gets

his own room But Dash wont give up his place as the favorite dog without-a

fight

Hoshway Kelly M ay the Best Dog Win ISBN 978098458908 l

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Brain Workouts Creative Thinking

Inventing a Robot Design a robot that will be able to meet your needs in the future The robot does not have to resemble a person so you can be very creative Write a users manual for your robot explaining the function or task that each feature of the robot will perform

copy Teacher Created Materials