Retelling a Story | 3 fun and easy retelling activities and strategies for first grade students

When teaching students to retell a story, they are sharing the most important parts of what they read. As teachers, we can check their comprehension and see if students are able to identify the most important parts of the story. In this video, I share 3 of my favorite retelling strategies for kindergarten, first, and second grade. Watch to see them :)

If you happen to use any of these ideas in your classroom, leave a comment below and let me know how they go! :) Also, if you share any of the games from Susan's Sunday Spotlight, please tag me on Instagram @susanjonesteaching so I can see!! You can also use the hashtag: #susanssundayspotlight

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Susan Jones

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[lavernhollis]

Hello. Thanks for these awesome ideas on retelling a story. I am on Spring Break this week but i will definitely use these ideas when I go back to work next week. Thanks again for sharing all of your wonderful ideas to enhance student learning.

[denisezelm]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Printing them tomorrow at school and using in the excited!!!

[TheMeegin]

I am going to use these this week! I love the squares. Some of my kiddos are struggling to pass their reading tests b/c of comprehension/retell. I hope these will help them organize their thoughts so they can get in the habit of retelling the important parts of the story. Thanks, as always, for sharing!

[reannewu]

This is great, so glad I discovered your channel!

[camillewilson]

Came upon this video you created! I teach kindergarten and we are working on retelling and summarizing. Thank you for these strategies. I really want to try the stop and sketch.

[dorenetomaskovic]

Susan, use the retell squares already, they're great, and a version of the character puppets-love the idea of making character puppets. Thank you so much for sharing. I will use all of these if we have to teleteach!!!

[LoriAlto]

Susan! You are just the best! So very helpful.

[luannpforr]

I am so excited to get started with these new ideas! Thank you!!

[nicolewillheimer]

Yes, I used to use stop and jot so this reminded me of that strategy. I'm definitely going to use it for retelling a story. I also like how you reiterated using fairytales because kids enjoy and are familiar with the story. Thank you . I wished that you were my colleague I would love brainstorming ideas with you. Best of luck to you.

[maxpower]

I really liked the Fairytale Plays and the Stop and Sketch. I am looking forward to trying these! Thank you!

[hoguejp]

Hope to use these ideas for teaching Bible classes! Thanks for the tips!

[suzannelewis]

Thank you for sharing these resources to enhance the learning process.

[taramoran]

This is great. I teach a multi-grade k/1 class. I just found out my assistant is out for a week. Yikes. This will work nicely for my reading block! Thank you.

[jennifermansfield]

Can't wait to try these out! Thank you!!

[jacquelineheinzen]

Thank you for the retelling tips and strategies. It is nice to have a few more resources to pull from.

[kristenkenley]

Thank you for the ideas! I’m going to definitely trying the stop and sketch 😍

[SusanCool]

I am excited to try the scene and puppet retelling method!! Thank you for the ideas!! Edmonton, AB Canada

[pambohuslav]

Love these!! Ready to try them out soon!

[cupangkupalembang]

All of your videos make my problems solved... Thanks sister... 😇🥰👍

[jeanwoodside]

I love your ideas. Can't wait to use them with my students!