Are you looking for a consistent resource to help your little learners practice and master story retelling? The Craft and Retell series can help you tackle story sequence and retelling for the entire year using popular and engaging children’s literature. It supports both common core and TEK standards for kindergarten and first grade. It aims to support little learners getting hands-on with a story using picture cards, a warm-up and of course a story craft.

Across my district, one way reading comprehension was assessed at mid & end of year kinder was with BME (beginning, middle end). After hearing a story, students would draw pictures to order events and write a corresponding sentence/label.

Since retelling is an essential foundational skill in kinder, we sharpened it all year long! But instead of just listening to a story and drawing the BME each time, I wanted the kiddos to have the chance to interact with consistent retell practice like we did with other skills in our interactive read alouds. Our interactive read alouds often includes this skill and many others, but I wanted retelling to be the star of its own show and Craft & Retell was born.

Standards Supported:

TEKS
K.6D | 1.7D Retell Texts in a way that Maintains Meaning
(including characters, Setting, Problem Solution & Key Events in Chronological Order)
K.7C | 1.8C describe the elements of plot development, including the main events (BME), the problem, & the resolution for texts read aloud with adult assistance/independent 1st

COMMON CORE STANDARDS
LITERACY.RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
LITERACY.RL.1.2: Retell stories, including key details

A Look Inside:

One of my favorite parts of a read aloud is the interactive component before, during and after that really helps students dig deeper into the story. Craft & Retell is perfect for after reading in both group activities and independent tasks.

Here’s an example of a whole group sequence activity after reading! It can easily be achieved using butcher paper or a pocket chart. Group sequencing and partner talking is HUGE for developing language, connecting, building comprehension and for kiddos to gain confidence. And it can easily lend itself to a shared writing opportunity when narrowing the story to a BME.

One thing you’ll notice is… I LOVE visuals and in primary grades it’s very helpful. Rather than a lone image on a card, these story cards are going to be detailed to help little learners remember and connect those key details to their oral and written/drawn retells.

Literacy crafts are my jam. In Craft & Retell, the related story craft gives kiddos the chance to sequence a set of their own pictures and retell independently with confidence! The crafts make great class decor and can be printed in layers (like mine) or on single sheets.

After multiple exposures with the tactile sequence practice (chart/craft like above), kiddos can move to the more abstract using a graphic organizer to narrow the retell/story elements into their own words and drawn illustrations.

In my interactive read aloud series, the writing crafts are popular with other teachers, so I wanted to make sure Craft & Retell had a similar option as well. There’s an open-ended ½ sheet of paper that can be added to the craft for kiddos to connect, share their favorite part or simply R E T E L L. Totally up to you and your needs.

You can check out the entire collection here
Craft & Retell comes in Singles, Seasons or the Year!