Design for Learning

Instructor: Ellie Knox

Lesson Title: Retelling a Story
Curriculum Area: Language Arts

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: 1st/Gartman

Date: 10/23/15
Estimated Time: 2 Days

Standards Connection:

RL.AL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central
message or lesson.
Learning Objective(s):
When given a story map over The Grouchy Ladybug, the students will give examples of each
box on the map through a correct written response or picture as well as properly sequencing three
different events in the story.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today boys and girls, we are going to retell stories using story maps! You will be able to retell
the story of The Grouchy Ladybug. I am going to give you this story map and you will be give
examples for each box. You can either draw a picture in the box or write your answer.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
When given a story map over The Very Grouchy Ladybug, the students will give examples of
each part of the map through a correct written response or picture. The students individually
complete their story map. They will either write or draw an example of every box on the map.
They must write a response that correctly relates to the story or draw a picture that shows direct
correlation to the labeled box. Students who give a correct example in each box and order three
events sequentially will be in the green zone. Students who give a correct example in at least four
boxes and order at least two events sequentially will be in the yellow zone. Students who fail to
give a correct example in at least four boxes or order at least two events sequentially will be in
the red zone.
Engagement:
The teacher will begin by welcoming the students to the carpet. She will compliment a student
who is sitting quietly. She will begin by asking the students if they remember the four story
elements. Good morning everyone! I am so glad you are all here today for another fun Friday. I
am so excited to teach you another lesson. Wow, I really like how quietly student A is sitting. You
are showing everyone how a first grader sits! Now, you all did a good job listening last week, but
I really want to see you all listen even better than last week. Give me a thumbs up if you
remember one of our four story elements that you remember from last week. Student C, what is
one of story elements? Yes! Character. Student X, what is a character again? Yes! A character is
a person, animal, or thing that takes part in the story. Wow, I am impressed. Student D, what is
another one of our story elements? Correct! Solution. Who can give me a thumbs up and tell me
what solution means? Student K, what does solution mean? Yes! A solution is how the problem in

the story is solved. Ok, Student B, what is our third story element? Yes! Problem. Student A, do
you remember what problem means? Yes! The problem is something that causes trouble for the
characters. Oh, we have one more story element. Who can remind me what that is? Student E, do
you remember what it is? Yes! It is setting. Student Y, what does the word setting mean? Yes! It is
where and when the story takes place. Wow, you all listened! Well today, I am going to read
another story by our new favorite author, Eric Carle. This is The Very Lonely Firefly. Now while
I read this, I want you to listen to hear all of our story elements. I know you all can listen very
well, so I am expecting to see you all sit and listen like first graders! The teacher will read the
book to the class. I loved that story! Give me a thumbs up if you heard any of our story elements
in that? You did! Great, we are going to use these elements to retell this story. Transition to
teaching
Learning Design:
I.

Teaching:
The teacher will take out the story map poster. She will first introduce the story map, and she will
explain that her overall goal is to teach the students how to use the story map to retell the story.
Who can remind me what the word RETELLING means? Student A, what does the word mean?
Yes! Retelling means to tell the story again using main details! Some of our main details include
our story elements. Retelling also involves putting events from the book in order. Now we did not
discuss events in our lesson last time, but you all practiced ordering events from another Eric
Carle book. Who can remind me what book you all read and practiced ordering the events?
Student G? Yes! It was The Very Busy Spider. So you all have ordered events before. We are
going to combine that with our story elements to retell stories using a story map. The teacher
will point to the story map poster. This is a story map. We can use this to help us retell a story.
This is one example of a story map, but you will use another one later on in our lesson. There
are so many types of story maps, and they are so useful to help us organize our thoughts while
we read. They also help us after we read to make sure we understand what we read. We will use
our story maps to retell our story. I want you to think of it as our guide. Has anyone ever been
somewhere where they had to use a map to get around? Think of your story map as your way to
get around the story. You want it to be right, or you will get lost retelling the story! The teacher
will point to each of the individual elements on the poster. Do you see how we have each of our
story elements on this map? Lets read through each of these sections. Title. Characters. Setting.
Problems. Solutions. Events. Good reading, everyone! Before we start, I want you to think about
why it is important to use a story map. First. I want to know why retelling is important? The
teacher will give the students 20 seconds to think. Student D, why do you all need to know how
to retell a story? Ok, good! We need to know how to retell a story so we can explain the most
important parts of the story without reading the entire story again. Would you be bored if I read
the story again? Yes! You already know the story. Retelling is important, because it helps us tell
others the important parts of the book. Retelling is part of summarizing the story. The teacher
will write the word SUMMARIZE on the board. When we summarize, we make the story
smaller. We can leave out some information and only keep the most important parts. Our story
map helps us keep track of the most important facts. Do you see how this map only has room for
our important details? We will fill the map with details that will help us retell the story. So, who
can remind me of our title of the book that we just read? Student K, what was our title? Yes! Our

book was The Very Lonely Firefly. The teacher will write THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY on a
sticky note and stick it on the TITLE section on the poster. Now, I want someone to give me
thumbs up to tell me some characters that they saw in the book. I do not want to hear any voices
right now. Student J, can you tell me one of the characters in this book? You are right! The firefly
is one of our characters. The teacher will write FIREFLY on a sticky note and stick it to the
CHARACTERS section on the poster. There are more characters in this book. Who else can give
me a thumbs up and tell us another character? Student A, what is another character? Yes! A dog
is one of the characters. The teacher will write DOG on a sticky note and stick it on the
CHARACTERS section of the poster. I know of a few more characters. Someone tell me another
character. Yes, the cat was another character. Oh yes! The owl was a character as well. The
teacher will write CAT and OWL on two sticky notes and post them on the CHARACTERS
section of the poster. Remember, we can go back to our book to look at it again. Lets go back
and flip through our book to look at all of our characters. The teacher will quickly flip through
the book to remind the students. When we retell stories, we want to make sure that we are
accurate. Good job everyone! Now, lets look at our next part of our story map. I want you to
silently think about where our setting is in the book. Do not raise your hands, I am going to give
you a few seconds to think about the setting in our story. The teacher will give the students 15
seconds to think about the setting in the story. Ok, what is the setting of the story? Raise your
hand quietly. Student B, what is the setting of our story? Where does our story take place? Yes! It
is outside. The teacher will write OUTSIDE on a sticky note and post it on the SETTING section
of the poster. Now, there is more to our setting than just outside. The teacher is looking for the
students to say that the story occurs at nighttime. What else could we say about the setting? Who
has an idea about our setting? If the students do not say that it is nighttime, the teacher will
prompt them. Good thinking everyone! The teacher will write NIGHT on a stick note and stick it
to the SETTING section of the poster. Ok, now lets all discuss the problems in our story. Do you
remember how we did partner talk last week? We are going to try that again. This time, I want
you to turn and talk to your neighbor. You do not need stand up but just turn and talk to them.
Now, I want you to talk to your neighbor about a problem that you saw in the book. The teacher
will give the students 30 seconds to discuss problems in the book. I heard some really good
discussion! Great job everyone. Student B, what is one problem that you and your partner
found? Yes! The firefly was lonely. The teacher will write THE FIREFLY WAS LONELY on a
sticky note and stick it to the PROBLEM section of the poster. Do you see any other problems?
That was our main problem here. If students say that they see another problem, the class will
discuss that problem. Next, we are going to discuss solutions. I want you to turn and talk to your
other partner and discuss the solution to our problem in this book. The teacher will give the
students 30 seconds to discuss. You are all mastering turn and talks! I am so proud. Student J,
what did you say was our solution? You are right! The solution was that the firefly found other
fireflies! The teacher will write THE FIREFLY FOUND FIREFLIES on a sticky note and stick it
to the SOLUTION section of the poster. Great job, everyone! Now, we are going to list some
events that we read in the story. Who can tell me one event in this story? It can be any event, and
we will worry about putting them in order after. Student A, I see you giving me your hand signal.
What is one of the events you remember? Oh yes! The firefly flew to a light bulb. The teacher will
write THE FIREFLY FLIES TO A LIGHT BULB on a sticky note and will stick it to the
EVENTS section of the poster. Student B, can you tell me another event that you remember?
Yes! The firefly flew towards a dog. The teacher will write THE FIREFLY FLIES TO THE DOG
on a sticky note and will stick it to the EVENTS section of the poster. I want one more event.

Who else remembers one event? Student C, what event do you remember? The firefly flew toward
a flashlight! Good work Student C! The teacher will write THE FIREFLY FLIES TO A
FLASHLIGHT on a sticky note and will stick it to the EVENTS section of the poster. Now, I
have a question for you. Are these events in the same order as they are in the book? Give me a
thumbs up if they are and give me a thumbs down if they are not. Oh, the thumbs down are
correct! Who knows the correct order of these events? Student I, come over to my board and
order these for me. Yes! The flashlight happened before the dog! Good job Student I! Now, I am
going to show you how we can use story maps to tell the story. Listen up and follow my finger as
I show you where I am reading. The teacher will point to each section of the poster as she retells
the story to the students. Watch how I do this. We read The Very Lonely Firefly. There was a
firefly who was very lonely, so he flew around outside at night and looked for other fireflies. He
flew to a light bulb, but that was not a firefly. Next, he thought he saw a firefly. It was actually a
flashlight. He then flew to a dog and cat thinking that they were fireflies, but he saw that they
were not fireflies. Eventually, he found a group of fireflies and was no longer lonely anymore!
The teacher will pause for 3 seconds. Now, I want you to think for a second. Did you get the
main part of the story? Yes, you did! That is the goal of retelling a story. Do you see how our
story map helped us retell the story? It served as our guide. Now, if we had not completed the
story map like this, we would not have been able to retell the story. If we had a bad map, we
would have gotten lost. The teacher will give the students a nonexample of a story map. Do you
see this story map? It lacks detail, and we would not be able to retell a story using this. We
definitely would have been lost, and we would not know the main details of the story. The teacher
will put the nonexample down and point to the poster. I want your story maps to look like the one
that we completed together, and I do not want it to look like our bad example! Transition to
Practice
II. Opportunity for Practice:
The teacher will hold up the story map that the students will complete. Look at this boys and
girls. This is another example of a story map. You are going to fill it out together in groups.
First, I am going to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I want to see everyone looking at me with
their best listening ears. The teacher will read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the class. Ok, I
hope everyone was paying close attention. The teacher will hold up the story map again. I want
you to work together and fill out the story map. The teacher will hold up the paper with the
sentences to complete the map. These are sentences and words that you will cut and glue to
complete the story map. The teacher will read the individual parts of the map. This first box
should have our title and author. The little house is for our setting. You will find words or
sentences that describe the setting and glue them here. The next shape is for characters. I want
you to find the character and glue it to this section. Down here, I want you to glue the problem in
this box and the solution in this box. The teacher will point to the two boxes. Last, I want you to
glue three events in order from the book. Talk with your table and try your best to order these in
the correct order! When I call your table group, I want you to come and get your story map. I
want everyone to pick up one gluestick and one pair of scissors. Before the students are
dismissed, the teacher will write the more difficult words on the board for the students. I want to
us to look at some of these words before you begin. The teacher will write CATERPILLAR on
the board. This word is caterpillar. The teacher will write COCOON on the board. This word is
cocoon, and the caterpillar made the cocoon to stay as it turned into a butterfly! The teacher will
call the students by table and give them the story map. Ok, I am going to give you some time to

work together. I only want to hear discussion about your story maps. I will be walking around
and listening to your discussion. The teacher will give the students 10 minutes to discuss in their
groups. As the students discuss, the teacher will circulate the room. When students say that they
are finished, she will ask the tables to retell the stories using their story map. If there are errors,
the teacher will prompt the students towards the correct answer. Once students are finished, the
teacher will introduce the assessment. Transition to Assessment
III. Assessment
Now boys and girls, it is your turn to show me how to retell a story. You have worked together to
retell The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Now, you are going to retell a different story. The teacher
will call the students to the carpet. I want everyone to join me on the carpet. I will wait until you
show me that you are ready to listen. The teacher will read The Very Grouchy Ladybug. Now,
you will complete a story map on this. I want you to retell the story of The Grouchy Ladybug.
The teacher will hold up a copy of the story map. I want you to give examples in each of these
boxes. You can either draw a good picture that I can understand or use words for each box. I
will be walking around the room to ask you questions as you work. Make sure you do not talk to
each other boys and girls, because I want to see you work on your own! The teacher will pass
another story map to the students. She will begin to circulate the room. The teacher will give the
students 10 minutes to complete the assessment.
IV. Closure:
The teacher will call the students back to the carpet. She will ask students to leave their story
maps on the table. Ok boys and girls, I want you to come back to your spot on the carpet please.
Leave your story map on your table! Once everyone is at the carpet, the teacher will summarize
the importance of a story map in retelling stories. Do you see boys and girls how story maps help
us retell a story? Student F, tell me why story maps can help us explain a story? Very good, story
maps help us organize main ideas! Now, we are going to do a gallery walk. I have seen you do
them in math, so I know that you will all be on your best behavior. Student U, can you stand up
and show us how we walk around? Yes! We put our hands behind our back and only look with
our eyes. I want you to walk around and look at everyones story map. Pay attention to how you
see them retell the story. Think about their map, and see if you can understand the important
ideas from the story! The teacher will give the students 3 minutes to gallery walk. Good job
everyone! Now, I want you to all turn in your story maps in your completed work folder and
prepare for our next subject.
Materials and Resources:
The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
2 sets of 16 story maps (attached)
16 copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar page
Story Map poster
A set of sticky notes
Markers
16 gluesticks
16 pairs of scissors

Completed story map to serve as nonexample

Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
Green zone:
Students in the green zone will use their story map to then write a short paragraph to retell the
story. They must combine all of the elements from their story map as well as use complete
sentences.
Red zone:
Students in the red zone will meet with the teacher in a small group. They will first go over story
elements and sequencing. After this, the teacher will read a different book and use a different
story map template for the students to do together with the teacher. If they struggle on
sequencing, the teacher will focus on a sequencing story map. If they struggle with the story
elements, the teacher will use a story map focusing on those.
Data Analysis:
I assessed the students over the practice. Although the students did not have time to complete the
story map, I grouped them into three groups: red, yellow, and green. Eight students were in the
green group. There was one student who completely finished the assignment with no errors. The
other seven were accurate in the parts of the story map that they completed. They will need
further assessing to see if they understand the parts of the map that they were unable to complete.
There were three students in the yellow group. One student was in between the yellow and green
group, but the student seemed confused about problems and events in a story. The other students
almost completed their map without errors, but they struggled with some parts. There were four
students in the red group. These students either did not complete their story map at all or the
parts that they completed were very wrong. I could tell that they really needed further
explanation of the story map and the parts of it. Overall, I think every student could benefit from
further explanation of the parts of the map and how to identify them.
Reflection:
This lesson seemed to go pretty well overall. The students were engaged, and I think that they
definitely learned from the lesson. The visual story map poster helped the students understand
how to organize the different parts of a story. They then could see how to retell the story using
the story map. I do not think that I spent enough time modeling how to use the story map to retell
the stories. After speaking with Dr. Hoaglund, I think that I rushed at the end of my lesson and
did not spend enough time with the story map. I should have had a few students stand up to
volunteer and reread the map. This could help them see how to use the story map and retell
stories. I also wish that I had spent more time on the nonexample that I gave the students. They
were very intrigued, and they could have learned more from seeing the nonexample. I am very
happy with this lesson. Turn and talks worked this time! Last week, it went terribly. I spoke
about how we do partner talks before we began, and it worked so much better. I was very proud
of the way that they conducted themselves.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Directions: Cut the strips and glue them to the proper box on the story map.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Caterpillar
The caterpillar was hungry.
Eric Carle
The caterpillar ate food and
became a fat caterpillar.
The caterpillar ate a cupcake.
Outside

Nonexample of a Story Map