Emily Hall

Mrs. Lambert Riverbend Elementary School

Lesson Presented on Thursday 10/20
A. TITLE/ TYPE OF LESSON
This is a read aloud and retelling assignment, to be completed with my case study child
(CSS).
CSS will listen to the story Fox Makes Friends, listen to the teacher model how to retell
the story, and then retell the story himself.
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
For the literacy course, we were assigned to read a short story to a student, and assess
their retelling abilities. I chose the story Fox Makes Friends, as this is one of my personal
favorites. Three Billy Goats Scruff was not used, because students had just read that
story the week before.
For the assignment, the teacher and CSS will go to the library, so that we can have a
quiet area to focus on the assignment.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Objective
Assessment
The student will listen to the read aloud
The teacher will read the story. During the
story.
duration of the story, the teacher will
watch CSSs facial cues, to see if he is
paying attention to the story.
The student will accurately retell the
The teacher will give CSS figures to act
story.
out the story. As he retells the story, the
teacher will record his speech.
D. ASSESSING OF LEARNING
Story retelling rubric for scoring individual story elements (see rubric)
E. MATERIALS NEEDED
Fox Makes Friends
Paper cut out figures of characters (fox, squirrel and rabbit)
Assessment sheet
F. Procedure
The teacher (Miss Hall), will read CSS the story Fox Makes Friends. During the
reading of the story, the teacher will use positive thinking strategies to encourage
engagement in the reading of the story.
At the conclusion of the story, Miss Hall will use the pictures in the story, and the
figures to retell the story. As she models the retelling of the story for CSS, she will flip
through the figures and encourage CSS to help retell the story.
After the teacher retells the story with figures, CSS will retell the story using figures.
As he retells the story, the teacher will record what CSS says.

Emily Hall
Mrs. Lambert Riverbend Elementary School
Lesson Presented on Thursday 10/20
Story Retelling Fox Makes Friends
Read 366
Grade Level of Student: K
Story Element
Setting and
Characters

Fox Makes Friends

Once upon a time, in the
woods, lived a fox. He makes
friends with a squirrel and
rabbit.

Story Problem

Fox wants to make friends.

Episode 1

Fox wants to make a friend. He

tries to make a friend out of
fruit.

Episode 2

Rabbit sees Fox trying to make

a friend, he laughs a Fox and
says he needs to make a
bigger friend. Fox and Rabbit
try to make a bigger friend.
Squirrel sees Fox and Rabbit
trying to make a new friend.
Squirrel thinks they look silly,
and says they must make an
even bigger friend. Together all
three try to make an even
bigger new friend.
The Momma Fox sees Fox,
Rabbit and Squirrel in the
woods sitting on the bench
because they are sad. When
they explain theyre sad
because they cant make
friends, she laughs and says,
you all already made friends
with each other!
Friends live together and play
happily ever after.

Episode 3

Resolution

Reaction of
Characters

What child said during assessment

C I dont know what characters are
T Characters are the people or animals
in the story
C Oh, well theres fox, and a rabbit,
and a squirrel, and oh! Mommy Fox
T Good (CSS), do you remember what
the setting of the story is?
C-
T the setting is where the story took
place.
C in the woods! But animals cant
really talk, so the pretend woods.
C - Fox wants to make friends, but you
cant make friends. Friends arent made
out of pumpkins.
C I dont remember what happened
first.
T What does Fox want to do?
C Fox tries to make a friend.
T What happens next?
C Fox tries to make a friend with
Rabbit helping. They try to make a friend
out of PUMPKINS!
T Do you know what happens next?
C Squirrel laughs at Fox and Rabbit
he goes hahahaha. And then, he helps
them try to make a friend. But this time
they use a pumpkin so its REALLY big!
Like as big as the ceiling in here. But,
the friend still doesnt talk to them.
C And then, and then, Rabbit, Squirrel,
and Fox are sad, cause none of their
friends are real, but the mommy says
they are all friends already, cause you
cant make friends, you have to be
friends with each other.

And then they all play together forever.

Emily Hall
Mrs. Lambert Riverbend Elementary School
Lesson Presented on Thursday 10/20
Rubric for Scoring Individual Story Elements
Complete/ detailed: 3
Partial: 2
Fragmentary: 1
Inaccurate: 0
Setting and Characters
Score: 3
Story Problem
Score: 3
Sequence of major events
Score: 2.33 (average of 3)
Resolution
Score: 3
Reaction of Characters at ending
Score: 3
Total Score: 14
13-15 Strong Retelling 9-12 Developing Retelling 5-8 Early 0-4 very little story language
THIS RETELLING WAS COMPLETED WITH SOME ASSISTANCE

Reflection:

Emily Hall
Mrs. Lambert Riverbend Elementary School
Lesson Presented on Thursday 10/20
I.
Introduction
The child studied for this assignment is also my case study child. In all documents,
he is referred to as CSS, as a I cannot use his real name.
CSS retold the story Fox Makes Friend on Thursday, October 20th.
II.
CSSs behavior
CSS is a people pleasing child. He is almost always on task and listens well in
class. He is always eager to share when asked a question, but seldom speaks out of
turn. He gets along well with all students in the class and is well liked by teachers.
CSS is Hispanic and comes from a Spanish speaking family. He came to the
elementary school at age 3 for help with speech. He falls far below the average in
literacy. He really struggles with his letters. He is able to identify all 26 letters, but
unable to state all letter sounds. He tries to write, but is typically unable to. According
to my CT, CSS is using and abusing his letters.
During this assignment, CSS was excited to participate. CSS has loved to participate
in all the observations and assessments. He is always more than willing to be
interviewed or assessed for any assignments.
CSS focused during this assignment. He was willing to listen to the story and
appeared to enjoy retelling the story.
CSS also liked the story. When asked, he said he liked the story. He smiled and was
willing to participate throughout the entire activity.
III.
Reflection of score
CSS received a different score for each section of the retelling assignment.
Setting and Characters
CSS did not know what a character was. When asked to tell the characters of the story,
he seemed to be confused. But, when the word character was explained to CSS, he was able to
successfully describe each character. Because he was able to explain all characters, he
received full points for this section of the assessment.
Story Problem
CSS caught onto the story problem in the first reading of the story. While reading the
beginning of the story, he was able to explain very quickly and easily that fox cant make
friends, he needs to go meet people and be nice to them. When asked to explain the problem,
he was able to quickly explain the problem of the story. The student can receive up to three
points for this section, and CSS was received three points, as his description of the problem of
the story was complete, detailed, and exceeded expectations. Because CSS was able to so
quickly identify the problem, it can be inferred that CSS will be able to comprehend stories on
higher reading levels. If CSS can easily find the problem in this story, at higher reading levels he
will still be able to find the problem.
Sequence of Major Events
This is the section CSS struggled the most with. He was not able to explain the first
event. Even with some teacher prompting, CSS was unable to explain the first event of the
story. When given major prompting such as, what does fox try to do first? What character does
fox meet first? CSS was able to provide a very fragmented answer. Because this was a nondetailed and short response, CSS received only one, out of a possible, three points for this
section.
CSS remembered event two of the story and was able to explain this section in much
more detail. CSS retold Fox becoming friends with a rabbit and their attempt to make a friend
out of a pumpkin. It was interesting that CSS remembered Fox and Rabbit making a friend out

Emily Hall
Mrs. Lambert Riverbend Elementary School
Lesson Presented on Thursday 10/20
of a pumpkin, as the text did not mention pumpkins, this was only seen in the pictures. CSS
received 3 out of 3 points for event two of the story. It was interesting that CSS remembered
details from the pictures more vividly than information from the text. Perhaps CSS is a visual
learner, and seeing specific details is helpful to his memory.
CSS also remembered event three of the story. The first sentence of episode 3 is
squirrel laughing at Fox and Rabbit. CSS thought this was the funniest part of the story. He was
also able to retell how the friends made an even bigger friend, still out of vegetables. Again,
CSS used the pictures he remembered seeing to assist in the retelling of the story. He
explained the third friend made to be as big as the ceiling. While the story never mentioned the
size of the third friend, the pictures showed a big friend towering over the three creatures.
Again, it was interesting to see how CSS used the pictures to explain the retelling of the story.
CSS received 3 out of 3 points for this section of the assessment.
Because the events only count as one section of the entire retelling assignment, an
average was taken and CSS received at 2.33 out of a possible 3 points. CSS was able to retell
most parts of the story, especially using the pictures. For further instruction, it is recommended
that he is read more challenging stories, still with many pictures, as pictures is what helps him
retell and remember the story.
Resolution
Just as CSS was able to pick up on the problem of the story, he was able to clearly
define the resolution. This is a very straight forward and obvious fable, so CSS was able to
predict the resolution in the beginning of the story. He received 3 out of 3 points for this section.
Reactions of the Characters
CSS was able to explain how the characters were friends forever at the end of the story.
When asked how the characters felt, he said happy because they have friends to play with! I
like playing with my friends, so that would make me happy. CSS received 3 out 3 points for this
section.
Total Score
CSS received a 14 out of 15 score (rounded down). He accurately retold the majority of
the story with minimal assistance from the teacher. He received help from the teacher only
when defining what a character and setting are, and in explaining episode one. A score of 14
out of 15 points places CSS in the strong retelling category. According to the rubric this is a
strong retelling, but because he struggled so much with explaining episode 1, he is also in the
developing retelling category, because explaining and sequencing events is also very important
to retelling a story.
Ideas for further instruction:
CSS is not able to read, but is able to retell. For further instruction and assessment, it
would be interesting to see if CSS can comprehend and retell a higher level story. It is
recommended that this same activity would be conducted with CSS, but reading a higher level
of story using more complex vocabulary and a more difficult series of events. To continue
instructing CSS in reading, it is recommended to use very short stories with sight words and
man pictures.