Retelling a story is a skill pre-readers need to practice in order to gain experience with later reading comprehension. Children can listen to a story and recall the characters, what they characters say, and details about the plot.
When doing this activity with children, choose a book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end). After the book has been read to the children, show the book and tell them to think about what happened in the story, the people (characters), and places they saw in the story. Ask them to 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 their dictation.
These story recall drawings are great for saving in children’s portfolios. You can also save all of them through the year and put them together into a book.
