Summary Sweep

This worksheet supports students in Grades 4 and 5 as they practice summarizing informational text by identifying key ideas and restating them clearly in one to two original sentences. Learners strengthen reading comprehension, paraphrasing, and writing precision as they distinguish essential information from supporting details and condense meaning without copying language from the original paragraph.

Learning Goals

• Summarizing Informational Text (Grades 4-5) – Students write brief summaries that accurately convey the main idea.
• Main Idea vs. Details – Learners identify what information is most important and what can be omitted.
• Paraphrasing Skills – Reinforces rewriting ideas in original wording while preserving meaning.
• Concise Writing & Clarity – Students practice clear, focused expression using limited sentences.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper-elementary ELA standards.
• Short, Focused Practice – One- to two-sentence summaries encourage precision without overwhelm.
• Supports Academic Writing – Builds essential skills for notes, reports, and constructed responses.
• Flexible Classroom Use – Ideal for literacy centers, guided reading, independent practice, or assessment.

This summary sweep worksheet helps students build confidence in summarization by teaching them how to extract meaning and express it concisely in their own words. Through repeated practice, learners strengthen comprehension, paraphrasing, and writing clarity-skills that transfer across subjects and academic tasks. Whether used in a classroom or homeschool setting, this printable resource offers meaningful, low-prep practice that supports strong reading and writing development.

This worksheet is part of our Paraphrasing Worksheets Collection.