Jesse Cunningham

Teaching Activity

Story Retelling
What is Story Retelling?
~ A technique students can use to practice comprehension. A child listens to or reads a
story and then summarizes, or retells, the story in his or her own words. Teachers use story
retelling to monitor childrens comprehension skills. Multiple activities are available for story
retelling.
Procedure
Introduce the story. Introduce the story by reading the title, examining the cover of
the book, or talking about a topic related to the story.
Read and discuss the story. Children read the story or listen to it read aloud.
Afterwards, talk about the story, share ideas, review, and clarify any confusion.
Have the child retell the story. Have the child retell the story in his or her own
words, using one of the exercises.
Activities
Story Boards. They serve as graphic organizers in the form of illustrations to help
students organize their thoughts during a story retelling. Cut-out pictures or felts can
be used. Students can use the paper cut-outs or felts to retell the story, sequence story
events, and explore characters and setting.
Picture Walk. As they analyze story elements, students draw pictures of the beginning,
middle, and end of the story. These visual representations highlight important concepts
and events about the story.
Role- Playing. Students assume the role of a character and retell the story from that
characters perspective.
How Does It Help Reading and Writing?
Boosts childrens reading comprehension and allows teachers to monitor comprehension
level.
Allows children to organize their thoughts and identify main story events.
Helps students understand story structure and make inferences.