The purpose of this activity is for kids to learn to pick out what is the most important information in a section of scripture and to summarize it. This is a valuable skill to learn for preparing talks or lessons.
Hand each student a mini post it note. Have them place the post it note over the chapter header of a certain passage. Give students 3-5 minutes on a timer to look over the passage and write their own chapter header for the passage.
After time is up, compare student responses with the existing chapter headers. How do they differ? What is the same? When you find something important that isn't in the chapter header or footnotes, how might you mark your scriptures in a way to help you remember it? If you could only write one sentence about this chapter that would state the most important thing you learned, what would it be? Write your summary sentence and 1) share it with the class or 2) write it in the margin. Share with the class why this is the most important thing you learned.
Great for: Covering a lot of material, Determining student level of understanding, Eliciting thoughtful responses, Encouraging student participation, Helping shy students participate, Helping students find meaning in the scriptures, Improving talks or devotionals, Learning to share feelings, Reading a long passage, Reviewing a scripture story, Teaching students to use study helps
Class size: Any class size
Helps Students: SEARCH the scriptures or text, SHARE feelings, thoughts, or personal experiences
Prep Time:
Student Age: Any age
Equipment needed: post it notes timer marking pencil for every person in class
