Story Retelling & Summaries: What's the Difference?

Understanding a what a summary is can be very difficult for young students, but it is an important skill for young learners to build.  Here is the definition my 1st graders came up with this week ...

Aren't they just awesome!

We've been reading Folk Tales and Fairy Tales as part of our unit on mental images and story retelling. So, using Simms Taback's There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly seemed to be a perfect fit for our first exploration of summaries.

First we did a retelling of the story and recorded it using an iPad. Here's our 3:00 minute retelling, just a simple recording with the story retell cards we use.



Then we wrote a summary together and practiced reading it a few times to make sure we were satisfied with it. One of my students laid out the picture cards for the recording as we read the summary. Here's the summary video...


What's the biggest difference they noticed when we watched the videos? The summary was MUCH shorter!

Hooray! Such a simple activity gave my students ownership of the concept of a summary. I really feel like they have a much deeper understanding of a summary, after just one lesson, than any other group I have taught in the past! I love what simple technology can accomplish sometimes!

We will be using props and iPads to record retellings and summaries together, and in our literacy stations, in the future. My students love watching and hearing themselves!

What strategies do you use to teach summary? Have you incorporated a technology piece successfully?