Summarising
Identify the most important ideas and retell them briefly
Learning Objective
4Rs2: Summarise the main points of a text
What is Summarising?
Summarising means retelling the most important parts of a text in your own words — shorter than the original.
Steps to Summarise
- Read the whole text
- Ask: "What is the most important thing?"
- Leave out small details
- Retell in 2-3 sentences
Practice
Read this text and write a summary:
The baobab tree is one of the most important trees in Africa. It can live for thousands of years and grow very thick trunks that store water. People use every part of the tree. The fruit is rich in vitamin C and can be made into juice. The bark is used to make rope and cloth. The leaves are eaten as vegetables and used as medicine. Many animals also depend on the baobab for food and shelter.
Summary: The baobab tree is an important African tree that lives very long, stores water, and provides food, medicine, and materials for people and animals.
Aligned to Cambridge Primary 4Rs2