Story Retelling

Choose a book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) After the book has been read to the children, show the book and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words, and write down their dictation. These are great for saving for portfolios.