This sequence of events activity helps preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade children put picture cards in order and retell stories with first, next, then, and last. An answer key is included.
This in your own words paraphrase activity has 3rd to 5th grade students match texts to paraphrase cards and write their own. A practice page and an answer key are included.
Read, retell and find the moral with this fables and folktales activity for 2nd and 3rd grade: story cards, moral cards, talk cards and a Story Map, with an answer key included.
This class critics summarizing activity gives 3rd to 5th grade students seven organizers to summarize books, videos, and articles. Answer key included for the model and practice.
This what's the moral of the story activity helps 2nd and 3rd graders read short fables, retell them, and match each one to its lesson. Answer key included for quick checking.
This retelling stories activity has Kindergarten to 2nd Grade students order picture and sentence cards, then retell a pool-day story. Answer key included to check every card.
This brushing your teeth sequencing activity helps K-2nd grade students retell a short story in order with picture cards, sentence cards and a story mat. Answer key included.
This retelling using key details activity helps kindergarten to 3rd grade students sort key events, put them in order, and retell a story, with an answer key included.
Using What Comes Next Sequencing Activity,studentsdescribe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.
This let's chat discussion starter activity gives 3rd to 5th Grade students 24 sentence starter cards, bookmarks and a speaker notes sheet, with a practice page and answer key included.
This Now Presenting - Report on a Topic Activity is a fun way for students to learn about Summarizing and presentations!
Using Digging for Information Text Structure Activity, students describe the relationship between events, scientific concepts, or procedures in a text.
In this two texts important information activity, 1st-3rd Grade students read two pumpkin texts and sort 12 fact cards by source. A practice page and answer key are included.
Using Retell the Story Activity,students read “Floppy Ears” aloud to students and then use the question chart to assess students ability to retell the story.
Say a lot in just a little
Summarizing means telling the most important parts of a text in your own words, and leaving the rest out. Young readers start by retelling a story in order: beginning, middle and end. As they grow, they learn that a summary is shorter than a retell. They name the character, the problem and how it gets solved, or the main idea and two or three key details in nonfiction. The hardest part is deciding what not to include, and the "aha" comes when kids realize a great summary is short on purpose.
Kids love to tell you every single detail. These moves help them find the important ones.
Give kids a five-box organizer and fill it in for a story everyone knows, like The Lion and the Mouse. Read the boxes together as one sentence and you have a summary. After a few stories, kids can do it on their own with almost any fiction text.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withSummarizing Organizer WorksheetGraphic OrganizersOpen it →Put a short paragraph on the board and summarize it in front of the class. Say why you are crossing out each detail: "This is interesting, but the story still makes sense without it." Kids need to hear that decision being made before they can make it themselves.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withSummarizing WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Have kids retell a story using beginning, middle and end boxes. Then give them a challenge: say the whole thing in 20 words or fewer. Shrinking a retell is the bridge from retelling to real summarizing.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withBeginning, Middle, and End WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Short, silly and fast. These keep summarizing practice from feeling like a chore.
WorksheetsKids summarize a story in one short message, like a headline. Vote on the one that says the most with the fewest words.
Open Tell About the Story Worksheet →
ActivitiesMix up picture cards from a familiar task, put them in order, then retell the steps in three sentences.
Open Sequence of Events Activity →
WorksheetsRead a short fable and summarize it in five words or fewer. "Little mouse saves big lion" counts!
Open Fables The Lion and The Mouse Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Sequence of Events Activity, In Your Own Words Paraphrase Activity and Fables and Folktales Activity.
A retell tells everything that happened, in order. A summary tells only the most important parts, in fewer words. Kids usually learn to retell first, then learn to summarize around 2nd and 3rd grade.
It is a simple frame for summarizing fiction. Somebody is the main character, Wanted is their goal, But is the problem, So is how they try to fix it, and Then is how it ends.
Find the main idea first, then pick two or three details that support it. A main idea graphic organizer helps kids keep the big idea separate from the small facts.
For elementary students, a few sentences is usually right. A good rule is that a summary should be much shorter than the text, and every sentence should matter.
After reading a bedtime story, ask "What happened in just three sentences?" or have them retell a movie in under a minute. Quick, playful practice builds the habit.
Loved by 2 million teachers & families
Printables, songs and games for every subject, Preschool through 6th. Ready to teach today, and kids beg for more.
