Retelling Stories with Structure
Retell stories including key details in sequence, describe characters, settings, and major events using evidence from the text, and describe the overall structure of a story (beginning, middle, ending)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Retell a familiar story in order, including at least three key details from beginning, middle, and end
- Describe a character's appearance, actions, or personality using details from the text
- Explain how the beginning of a story introduces the characters and setting, and how the ending concludes the action
The lesson
When you retell a story, you tell it again in your own words, in the order it happened. A good retelling has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Think about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Beginning: Goldilocks finds a house in the woods. Middle: she tries the porridge, the chairs, and the beds. End: the bears come home and she runs away. Each part uses real details from the story.
When you describe a character, use clues from the book. What do they say? What do they do? Don't just guess based on how you feel about them.
A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, so retell it in that order and back up your character descriptions with details from the book.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.