However, other answers force them to use the clues in the story, in combination with their own thoughts. Better yet, some questions require answers that are unique to every child. The students apply meaning to the story by using their own thoughts and feelings in their answers. In school, students also learn to summarize what they've read. However, they don't jump right into writing summaries of stories, but instead, write what's called a story map, frame, or outline.
Children are most confused when choosing the main events of a story.
Eventually, this story map evolves into a comprehensive paragraph summarizing the story. If the child has been reading an expository piece about a certain topic, then summarizing skills would begin with a main idea map. A main idea map outlines the topic and main idea of a selection, and also the important details, or facts, which support the main idea. Again, children struggle with which details are the important ones and like to put down anything from the selection that appeals to them. In older grades, this map helps the child focus thoughts for a written summary.