ABSTRACT
When teaching kids to retell details and information in nonfiction text, the framework for thinking remains the same, but the focus is on what they have learned rather than on the elements of story. Children love listening to fables, sitting with a partner to retell and infer their lessons, and of course just sharing them. Fables can take over work activity time, too, what with children acting them out, writing their own, and creating scenes, characters, and events from their favorites with wooden blocks, Legos, and Beanie Babies. Retelling is all about what happened in the story, including key details. Retelling can help with synthesis, but just because readers can retell a story doesn’t mean they’re thinking about or understanding the big ideas.
