Retelling Stories
~ Stacey Lund

Several of our teachers have made retell beads with their class, which is a set of colored pony beads on a ribbon, then used as a bookmark. The beads are strung on so they slide, much like a golf counter. Kids can then keep it in their independent reading book and practice the skill on their own after the teacher has modeled how to use it.

Each bead is a different color, representing a part of a retell:
Purple-Character(s)
Green-Setting
Yellow-Problem
Blue (three different colors of blue)-3 main events
Orange-Solution
White-Connection/Reflection/Observation

We made an anchor chart for students to refer to as they are learning what each color means. You could also add a picture cue next to the color and story element, especially to support ELL students.