$5 Summaries

It has occurred to me that all of my posts so far have focused on math. So here's an idea focused on reading (with a little math thrown in!).

After reading a story or other work of fiction, give each pair or small group of students $5 worth of play money in assorted denominations. Explain to the students that people who write for newspapers and magazines often get paid by the word. For example, if each word is worth 25 cents, then an article with 100 words would earn the author $25.

Imagine that a magazine is asking young writers to send in a summary of their favorite book. However, if the magazine publishers pay 25 cents per word, they can only afford to pay $5 per summary.

Challenge the students to write a summary of what they just read keeping within the magazine's guidelines!

You can change up the amount of money each word is worth and the total amount paid out depending on how much of a summary you want the students to write or how well they are able to add money.

You can also adapt this to use with non-fiction text when determining the main idea. For example, if each word is worth $1, can you write the main idea using only $5?

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:
it goes on.”
—Robert Frost