Retelling Fiction and Nonfiction

Hello Everyone!
As teachers we should constantly be evolving.  I was reminded of that this week by my teammate.  We were working on our retelling using our story spoons. She mentioned that she included another part to the retelling...the author's purpose.  She, of course, is right.  We had briefly talked about that in the past few weeks, but I did not include that in my retelling charts, posters, or hands on visual tools. Retelling is an important part of detecting comprehension skills in our young readers, and the kids did a great job of including all the necessary parts of retelling a fiction piece, but I needed to revisit my unit to include author's message.  Before I share that, I want to show some quick pics of our work on retelling so far.

We reviewed all the different parts of a fiction story and I introduced the colored symbols we will use to remind us of all the parts. We had kind of a snow theme going on last week, so I used the symbols as buttons on our snowman. 

The kids made their own retelling reminder tools

They worked on writing out their retelling of a fun story, The Biggest Snowman Ever" by Kroll.

Then used their retelling reminders as they read books from their book baskets.
Next week I will have them add an orange button to remind us of telling about the author's message!!

Also next week we will practice retelling nonfiction pieces.  I've had a few e-mails asking if I had anything to share to help kids with that kind of retelling. I finally got busy and put something together!! I am so sorry it took me so long!
We will use the same type of hand to head reminder tool.  For fiction stories we used spoons.  For nonfiction, we will use forks to get to the point!! :)

If you have followed this blog over the last few years, you know I have posted about retelling many times.  I've introduced our retelling ropes with posters, students pages, etc.  I think I am going to like using spoons and forks better.  They are easier for the kids to make, manipulate, and manage. They are easily portable and store well in book baskets. And they are cheap!! 

Evolving, Revolving, and Involving!! My new mantra!!

If this is something you think you can use, or if you think I'm way off base, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment! I promise I read them all even though I don't always reply. 

If you think you want a printable unit on retelling fiction and nonfiction,

CLICK HERE!!! 

The unit (25 pages) includes all the mini posters and directions for the hand to head retelling tools, as well as student retelling pages, poems, and rubrics to "grade" your kids' retellings!! I know I can't wait to see how they do on nonfiction pieces!

Please let me know if you find any typos or other silly mistakes.  Sometimes my ideas are way ahead of my typing!!! 

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek through our little window!!

Till next time, 

Joyfully!

Nancy

Retelling Stories

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by our blog to see what's happening in our first grade classroom!  This week we are working very hard on "retelling"stories we have read. Learning how to retell a story helps our little learners as readers and thinkers. It helps to organize thought, and recognize the thoughts we have during reading.  It helps us recognize when our thinking changes throughout our reading.  Characteristics of good retelling are: using character names, telling about the setting, including the happenings or plot (beginning, middle, and end), discussing the problem the character is having, and describing how the problem was solved. 
Today I introduced our "retelling rope." Each symbol represents the parts of a story.  I have used retelling ropes before, but revamped this with some better visuals. The kids really get it when they can actually manipulate the parts.  This year I wrote a simple poem to go along with our retelling activities. 
We practiced retelling several stories together using the large retelling rope, and then the kids got to make their own mini one to manipulate during their own reading time. After putting these together, some kids chose to work with others to retell a common story (The Lorax has become a favorite for some reason :) !) We also practiced recording our retelling thoughts. We will continue to work hard on this important skill!

When I read a story!

For your printable of these pages plus larger visuals to make your own retelling rope click here! :)

here's the link to the printable with student rope pics! :)

Or click here! :)

I love helping kids improve their retelling skills!!  Don't forget to retell your own stories with your kids!!!

Stop by again soon!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Retelling Rope

Hello Everyone!
I almost forgot to post one other thing.  I have had a ton of questions and e-mails about my story retelling rope that I posted on last year.You can read about that here! :)  I have been doing retelling ropes for a long time.  Does anybody remember "Project Read?"  The author of that amazing curriculum was my inspiration for this way of teaching kids about the parts of a story and extending that into retelling.  "Retelling" is an important component of discriminating comprehension in our beginning readers. Making it hands on is important to me! 
Kids almost always cement learning better when they can incorporate as many senses as possible.
I took some time to redo my retelling rope icons, my retelling poem, made some little posters about the parts of a story, and redid my anchor chart.
Here are some pics of what this little unit includes.

Here are some pics of finished products, anchor chart and student retelling rope.

For your free mini unit on retelling grab the rope and click here!

I hope this helps with your lessons on retelling!!  Hold on and have fun!!

Joyfully!
Nancy

Retelling Rope

Hello Everyone,
This week we are working hard on the components of a good story and being able to retell with all those components evident.  I've posted about retelling ropes before, but I wanted to share how much my kids love them and "get it!" 
We reviewed all the story parts and created our class-size retelling anchor chart and rope. Then the kids made their own. 

  Retelling is an important component of discriminating comprehension  in our young readers. Teaching the main components of a story  will help kids understand story structure, the relationships between the parts, sequencing, author’s purpose, and so many other comprehension skills.

Here's a little retelling unit. It includes :

*A little poem to post

*A mini poster showing the Story  Retelling  Rope

*4 mini posters which depict some of the  story parts.

*3 pages of large icons for your own large poster or retelling  

      rope.

*2 pages of small icons for the kids to make their own rope (color and black and white for them to color their own)

*Student recording pages(color and black and white)

Here's the link to the downloadable Retelling Rope unit...Click!! :)

example of story part poster

Parents, don't forget to ask your kiddo about their retelling rope.  Try it at home with the books your kiddo is bringing home. 
Have a great night everyone!
Thanks for taking time to take a peek!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Retelling With a "Tell Me Tower"

Hello Everyone!
Story retelling is an effective way to improve children's reading comprehension. For our kiddos who are just starting to develop their reading skills, this practice can be extremely helpful.
Studies on story recall have found that extended use of the technique of story retelling leads to large improvements in story comprehension, making inferences, and understanding of story structure. Rather than having children answer specific questions about story details, story retelling requires children to focus on the bigger picture of the story and allows me to see how well a child understands the story as a whole.
 The goal should be to encourage students to think critically about the story and to improve their comprehension and vocabulary by having them tell their thoughts. As children become more comfortable with retelling stories, their language and listening skills will improve.
I have previously posted about using a retelling rope to aid in the retelling of stories. This year I introduced a "Tell Me Tower."  In the middle of our fairy tale unit, it was a great fit!
I reviewed the important story elements and introduced some little icons to help them remember the elements.  The kids made "Tell Me Towers" from paper towel tubes, construction paper and the icons.  Then they got together with a friend and told each other about a story they had read, or heard.  In this case, it was Cinderella. Some of the kids used the little puppets to also aid in the retelling.
Here are a couple of pics.

 For your own set of "Tell Me Tower" icons, click HERE! :)
(They are part of my Cinderella Unit!)
The kids will keep their "Tell Me Towers" in their book baskets to use consistently with each book they read!
Hope you can use this!  Let me know!!
Until then!
Have a great weekend!
Joyfully!
Nancy  

Redo on Retelling!

Hello Everyone!
One of my most popular blog posts is one from many years ago on retelling. I looked back at that post and...WOW!!!  I totally needed to redo that unit!!! It looks so tired!!! I think I was just starting out with this whole "sharing via this blog" thing. It is surprising how much I have learned about creating products, making them look more engaging for kids, taking better photos, giving credit to the artists who create the clip art, finding clipart that is "cuter,"  and even adding copyright logos to some of my creations. I couldn't wait to redo my retelling unit. I have forever done the retelling rope...I mean ...for years! And many of you have adopted that strategy, but I decided to simplify...you know KISS, and make the story parts color coordinated with dots. The Retelling Rings and/or Story Sticks are easier for kids to make and will be "handy" reminders of the parts of a narrative. They can keep the manipulatives in their book baskets to take out whenever they are reading or listening to a story.   Here are a few pics of the changes I've made.

 I hope you can use this new and improved version of retelling!  If you think you might,

simply CLICK HERE for the downloadable printable.

 Yes, it's free!

I know I can't wait to use this retelling redo with my current firsties!!!  I'll let you know how it goes.  

Well, gotta run!!! We have parent/teacher conference day tomorrow!  I've got to finish getting ready for 22 conferences!  Yikes!!  Wish me luck with staying on schedule and getting them all in!!! I do love conferences and sharing what each little firstie is doing!  I also love hearing from parents and learning even more about my kids!!

Till next time, thanks for stopping by this little Window On Wonder!! I always appreciate comments and e-mail.  

Have a great week!

Joyfully!

Nancy

firstgradewow@gmail.com