Summarizing non-fiction text examples for Grade 3

📚 Quick Study Guide

• 🔍 Identify the Main Idea: What is the text mostly about? Look for the topic sentence.
• 📝 Find Key Details: What important facts, examples, or explanations support the main idea?
• 💡 Use Keywords: Certain words are more important than others. Pay attention to words that appear frequently.
• ✂️ Omit Unnecessary Information: Cut out anything that is not essential to understanding the main points.
• ✍️ Write a Summary: In your own words, write a short paragraph that includes the main idea and key details.
• ✅ Keep it Short: A good summary is much shorter than the original text.
• 🤓 Practice Regularly: The more you practice, the better you'll get at summarizing!

✍️ Practice Quiz

1. Which of these is the FIRST step in summarizing a non-fiction text?
   1. A. Writing the summary
   2. B. Identifying the main idea
   3. C. Finding key details
   4. D. Counting the words


2. What are you looking for when you try to identify the 'main idea'?
   1. A. The author's name
   2. B. What the text is mostly about
   3. C. The number of pages
   4. D. The illustrations in the text


3. What are 'key details'?
   1. A. Unimportant facts
   2. B. Important facts, examples, or explanations
   3. C. Words you don't understand
   4. D. The title of the text


4. Why is it important to 'omit unnecessary information' when summarizing?
   1. A. To make the summary longer
   2. B. To confuse the reader
   3. C. To keep the summary short and focused
   4. D. Because it's fun


5. What should a good summary be?
   1. A. Longer than the original text
   2. B. Exactly the same length as the original text
   3. C. Much shorter than the original text
   4. D. Written in a different language


6. If a text is about cats, which of these would be a key detail?
   1. A. The author likes dogs
   2. B. Cats are mammals
   3. C. The color of the paper
   4. D. The book's price


7. What should you use when writing a summary?
   1. A. The author's exact words
   2. B. Your own words
   3. C. A dictionary
   4. D. A random sentence