Retelling a story is a very important skill in First Grade. The above video is from YouTube. It is a young girl retelling the story of The Three Little Pigs. We challenged the Ponderosa Pandas to be able to retell a story with all of the important story elements just like she did! The kids are very excited and ready to take on the challenge! Start having your child retell stories at home too! At the end of each Guided Reading Level DRA II test that your child takes at school, he/she is expected to retell the story that he/she just read aloud. If your child is reading a year above grade level-he/she is even expected to write the retell of a story. So building writing STAMINA is of utmost importance!
Research indicates that retelling a story increases the quantity and the quality of what is comprehended after the reading of a story.
In retelling a story your child should be able to retell the story from the beginning of the story with the book closed. A retell should include:
characters' names
setting
sequence of events from beginning, middle, and ending
details
vocabulary
dialogue
expression
problem in the story
solution/how the problem is solved
any personal connections
and be understandable and make sense