The Five Finger Summary Strategy
What is summarizing?
• Summarizing involves taking large sections of text and
reducing them into shorter, concise passages.
• Summarizing involves the key ideas or the “gist” of the
story or article.
• When summarizing, you should use your own words
without changing the meaning of the writing, and you
should maintain the plot’s sequence.
• Remember to focus on only the most important
details.
The Five Finger Summary Strategy
 The five finger summary
is an easy method to
quickly summarize any
narrative piece.
 It can be used for a page,
for a chapter, or for an
entire book.
Let’s Practice…
http://www.storylineonline.net/wilfrid-gordon-mcdonald-partridge/
Somebody…
 This is the person considered the main character.
 This character drives the action of the story.
 It can be a group.
 In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, the somebody
is Wilfred.
Wanted…
 What is the main character trying to do?
 What is the goal of the character?
 This usually leads to the problem.
 In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfred wanted
to help Ms. Nancy remember.
But…
 This is the main problem of the story.
 It is usually in the middle of a story.
 It is the challenge facing the main character.
 In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfred doesn’t
know what a memory is.
So…
 This is the main consequence of a story.
 It is also usually found in the middle of the story.
 It can sometimes come before the “but.”
 In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfred asks
others what a memory is and gathers up items that
were important to him.
In the end…
 This represents the solution or resolution of the story.
 It is usually at the end.
 In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfred
brought Ms. Nancy items that brought memories of
her own.
Example of the Five Finger
Summary
 Wilfred wanted to help Ms.
Nancy remember, but he
didn’t know what a
memory was. So, he asked
each person what a
memory was and then
gathered up items that
helped him to remember
events and people in his
life. In the end, Ms. Nancy
was able to remember
stories from the items
Wilfred brought to her.
Let’s practice…Wilma Rudolph
 Wilma Rudolph was the first American female runner to win three gold medals
in the Olympic Games. Her performance was all the more remarkable in light
of the fact that she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever as a young child
and could not walk without braces until age 11.
 Rudolph was born on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee, the 17th of 19
children, and soon moved with her family to Clarksville. At an early age, she
survived polio and scarlet fever, only to be left with the use of one leg. Through
daily leg massages administered in turn by different members of her family, she
progressed to the point where she was able walk only with the aid of a special
shoe. Three years later, however, she discarded the shoe and began joining her
brother in backyard basketball games. At Burt High School in Clarksville, while
a sophomore, Rudolph broke the state basketball record for girls. As a sprinter,
she was undefeated in all of her high school track meets.
 In 1957, Rudolph enrolled at Tennessee State University and began setting her
sights on the Olympic Games in Rome. In the interim, she gained national
recognition in collegiate meets, setting the world record for 2000 meters in July
of 1960. In the Olympics, she earned the title of the "World's Fastest Woman"
by winning gold medals for the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash (Olympic
record), and for anchoring the 400-meter relay (world record). She was named
by The Associated Press as the U.S. Female Athlete of the Year for 1960 and also
won United Press Athlete of the Year honors.
Let’s try the Five Finger Summary…
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



Who is the somebody?
Wilma Rudolph
What did she want?
She wanted to walk and run.
But?
She was sick with polio and wore a leg brace.
So?
Her mother and family massaged her legs daily, and she
exercised her muscles every day.
 What happened in the end?
 In the end, Wilma was able to walk and run so well that she
won three medals at the 1960 Olympics.
The Summary
 Wilma Rudolph wanted to walk and run like a normal
child, but she had polio and had to wear a leg brace. So
her mother and family had to massage her legs daily.
Wilma also exercised. In the end, Wilma not only
learned to walk and run without her brace, she became
a three time Olympic gold medal winner.
On Your Own…
 Now read a picture book you have from the library or
from the classroom library.
 Use the Five Finger Strategy to summarize the story in
your reading notebook.
 Be prepared to share your summary.