A - Z Sentence Summaries
Add a little spice to your class with this wrap-up activity!
How it Works & How to Ensure Higher-Order Thinking
How it Works!
1. At the end of a teacher-led content presentation, assign
students a letter of the alphabet.
2. Ask students to create a one-sentence summary of the
presentation, beginning their sentence with the assigned letter.
3. Do a Chalkboard Splash, attaching the sentence to the
board so students can review their peers' sentence
summaries.
4. Before ending the lesson, call out the letters in order as a
cue for students to read their sentences out loud.
Ensure Higher-Order Thinking!
One way to ensure higher-order thinking with this activity is to ask students to add a relevance component to their sentences. For example, students can create a second sentence to their A--Z Sentence Summary by completing the sentence starter "This is important because. . ." or "This affects us today because . . ." This relevance piece can be added to a sentence summary in any content area.
1. At the end of a teacher-led content presentation, assign
students a letter of the alphabet.
2. Ask students to create a one-sentence summary of the
presentation, beginning their sentence with the assigned letter.
3. Do a Chalkboard Splash, attaching the sentence to the
board so students can review their peers' sentence
summaries.
4. Before ending the lesson, call out the letters in order as a
cue for students to read their sentences out loud.
Ensure Higher-Order Thinking!
One way to ensure higher-order thinking with this activity is to ask students to add a relevance component to their sentences. For example, students can create a second sentence to their A--Z Sentence Summary by completing the sentence starter "This is important because. . ." or "This affects us today because . . ." This relevance piece can be added to a sentence summary in any content area.
Same Concept--Other Ideas!
- Use alphabet refrigerator magnets to create a Chalkboard Splash review. At the end of a lesson, students choose magnetic letters, attach these to the whiteboard, and write their sentence summaries on the board. This enables students to share and contribute to a larger-scale whole-class summary.
- Have students, in groups, make a poster of their summaries; students tape their letter to a piece of poster paper and write their summary to display for the rest of the class.