- Definition
Summarizing means explaining the main ideas of something you've read or heard in your own words, making it much shorter.
After reading 'The Three Little Pigs,' summarizing would be saying 'The pigs built houses and the wolf blew two down, but the brick house was safe.'
How to teach this in 30 seconds
Try this analogy: Summarizing is like telling a friend about a movie you watched, but you only share the biggest, most important moments.
Ask your child: In just a few sentences, what was this story mostly about?
Common mix-up: Kids often think summarizing is just retelling the whole story. A good summary only includes the most important ideas, leaving out the small details.
Examples
- Reading an article about sharks and then explaining that they are important ocean predators.
- Telling your family the highlights of your school day instead of every single thing that happened.
summarizing is a term used in Ontario’s Kindergarten to Grade 8 curriculum.
Where this shows up
The descriptions on this page are SmartStudy’s own original, plain-language writing — not the Ministry’s wording. They are aligned to the Ontario Curriculum, © King’s Printer for Ontario. For the Ministry’s official wording, see the source link below. SmartStudy is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Government of Ontario or the Ministry of Education. Ontario Curriculum and Resources ↗
