A teacher is working with a group of third graders on reading comprehension. After reading a story, the teacher asks the students to summarize the main events. What is the primary purpose of this activity?

The primary purpose of asking students to summarize the main events of a story is to encourage them to think about the structure of the story. Summarizing requires students to identify key elements such as the main characters, setting, events, and the sequence of those events. This process deepens their understanding of how narratives are constructed and aids in developing their ability to analyze texts. By focusing on the overall structure, students learn to distinguish between essential information and supporting details, which enhances their comprehension skills and prepares them for more advanced reading tasks.

The other activities presented, such as recalling specific details, evaluating fluency, or practicing decoding, are important in their own right but do not directly target the understanding of narrative structure as the summarization activity does. Summarizing inherently demands higher-order thinking skills, fostering a more comprehensive grasp of the text.