About this activity
A seven-picture story with a problem in it: Maya woke up and saw snow outside her window; she put on her boots, hat and mittens; outside she rolled three big snowballs; she could not find anything for the nose; her mom brought her a carrot; Maya put the carrot on and hugged the snowman. Then three retells — with the pictures, with sequence words, and without the pictures at all.
How to use it in a session
Do all three retells, in that order. The fading is the whole design: the first is supported, the second adds the connectives, and the third is the target. The instruction on the last card — don't leave out the problem — is there because the missing nose is the element students skip, and a retell without it is a list of actions rather than a story. Fifteen minutes covers the story and the three retells.
What to listen for
Watch whether the problem survives the unsupported retell. Students who retell accurately with pictures often drop the complication when the pictures go, because it is the one element that is not a visible action. Listen for the connectives in the second retell — first, next, then, finally — and whether they carry into the third without prompting.
Carrying it home
Any picture book supports the same three-step routine. Retelling with the pictures, then with the book closed, is a bedtime routine that takes two minutes and builds narrative structure.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through fourth, for early narrative retelling.
- Is it free?
- Yes, the whole story and all three retells play with no account.
- My student retells with pictures and not without. Is that progress?
- It is the expected middle stage. The pictures are carrying the sequence, and the work is transferring that to memory — which is why the third retell exists as a separate step rather than an afterthought.