Reod ing Skitts ond Strotegies

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Reoding Skittsond Strotegies
Retelling:Summarizingthe Plot
byKyleneBeers
ere are two retellingsof a traditionalversionof "The Three
Little Pigs."Readeachone, and decidewhich one is better.
1 . Somepiqebuilteomehoueee,
and,a wolfcameLa blowdowntheir
houeeebul couldn'tr.lL'e
a eLorycalled"TheThreeLilLle7iq6."
2. ff ie ie Lheetory of "TheThreeLitLle?iqo."No one knowewhofireLlold
are lhree piqeand a wolf. TheLhreeViqe
LhieeLory.ThematncharacLere
ltreLonemakeehie houeeout of hay.A
eachdecideto builda houee.The
wolfcomeealonqand bloweil down,and LhaLpiq haelo ruehlo Lhe next
out of eLicks.NexL,the wolfqoeo
Viq'ehoase,?tehad madehtehot-tee
thereand bloweit down,and both piqerun to the Ihird piq'ehouee.Ihe
the wolfqoeolhere
Lhirdone had mad,ehie houeeouLof bricke.Finally,
wolfclimbedownthe chimneyand
and Lrieeto blowit down,buLcan'L.The
f alle inLoa poLof boilinqwaLer.He runeecreaminq
ouLLhefronl door and
neverboLhersLhepiqeaqain.Thelhree Viqel:e happilyeverafler.
U n d e rsta n d i n g Retel ling
R""da"S s'ktlt"l
Retell.and
I
summa r r z ea I
story'splot. I
It'seasyto recognizethe secondone asthe better
retelling, but exactlywhat makesit better than
the first one?Usethe RetellingTipsin the box
Retelling Ti ps
A good retellingshould
to the right to evaluatethe two summaries.
1. statethe title and author
The Strategy Connection
2. identifythe main character
The secondretellingis better becauseit's
organizedand givesspecific informationin a
3. describethe setting
certainorder.A strategycalledretelling helps
you summarizea story.You'll practiceretellingas
you read the following story.
4. relatethe main events
5. usetime-order words like lrirs(,
nex{, and finally
6. keep eventsin the right order
7. explainhow the storyends
Collection1 / TellingStories
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Strstegy
As you read,you'll
find this open-book
signat certainpoints
in the story:
&.
sto p at t hese
points,and think
about what you'vejust
read.Do what the
promptasksyou to do.
traditionql Japanese,
retold b7 YoshikoUchida
any long yearsago,there lived an arrogantand cruel
young lord who ruled over a sn-rallvillagein the western
hillsof Japan.
"l haveno usefor old peopleir-rmy village,"
he saidhaughtily.
"They are neitherusefr.rl
nor ableto work for a living. I therefore
decreethat anyoneoverseventy-one
mustbe banishedfrom the
villageand left in the mountainsto clie."
"What a dreadfuldecree!
What ir crueland unreasonable
lord
we have,"the peopleof the villagemurmured.But the lord
fearfullypunishedanyonewho disobeyedhin.r,and so villagers
who turnedseventy-one
weretearfullycarriedinto the mountains,
neverto return.O &
@ fni nt aboutwhat
you'velearnedso far.
What'sthe title?
Who'sthe author?
Wheredoesthis story
take place?Canyou
figure out what is
going to causea
problemin this story?
rst,
er
Bam boo ( 1835)by Tani Bunc h o .F o l d i n g f a n ; i n k o n p a p e r .
Copyright
TheBritishMuseum,
London.
The WiseOld Woman
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Wo'
trqditional Japanese,
retold by Yoshiko Uchi,
i'
i
',
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any long yearsago, there lived an arrogai:young lord who ruled over a small villagein the u,.
hillsof Japan.
"l haveno usefor old peoplein my village,"he saidhaughtily.
"Theyareneitherusefulnor ableto work for a living.I therefore
must be banishedfrom the
decreethat anyoneoverseventy-one
villageand left in the mountainsto die."
"What a dreadfuldecree!What a cruel and unreasonable
lord
wehave,"the peopleof the villagemurmured.But the lord
fearfullypunishedanyonewho disobeyedhin-r,and so villagers
weretearfullycarriedinto the mountains,
whoturnedseventy-one
neverto return.O &
or
cter
Ornint aboutwhat
you'velearnedsofar.
What'sthe title?
Who'sthe author?
Where doesthis story
take place?Canyou
figure out what is
going to causea
problemin this story?
<efirst,
: oroer
Bam boo ( 1835) by Tani Bun c h 6 .F o l d i n g f a n ; i n k o n p a p e r .
Copyright
TheBritishMuseum,
London.
nds
The WiseOld Woman
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Eachdaythe son put off tellinghis n-rotherthat he must takeher
intothemountainsto die,'butthe peopleof thevillagebeganto
talk.The farmerknew that if he did not takehis motherawaysoon,
thelord would sendhis soldiersand throw themboth into a dark
dungeonto die a terribledeath.
"\,{61[91-" he would begin,ashe tried to tell her what he
mustdo,but he couldnot go on.
Thenone daythe mother herselfspokeof the lord'sdread
decree.'Well,
my son,"shesaid,"the time hascomefor you to take
meto the mountains.
We musthurry beforethe lord sendshis
soldiersfor you."And shedid not seemworriedat all that shemust
goto the mountainsto die.A 4
C opyri ghtThe B ri ti shMuseum,London.
oHu
Strutegy
G) wno are the
charactersyou've met
so far?What problem
do they face?
;r
'l
TheWiseOld Woman
.)His
@wtrat hashappened
so far in the story?
Usewords like first,
second,thfd to keep
the eventsin order.
@wtro isthe new
character?
Whatisthis
character
tryingto do?
"Forgiveme, dearmother,for what I must do,"the farmer said
sadly,and the next morning he lifted his mother to his shoulders
and setoff on the steeppath toward the mountains.Up and up he
climbed,until the treesclusteredcloseand the path wasgone.
Therewasno longereventhe sound of birds, and they heardonly
the soft wail of the wind in the trees.The son walkedslowly,for he
could not bearto think of leavinghis old mother in the
mountains.On and on he climbed,not wanting to stop and leave
her behind.Soon,he heardhis mother breakingoff small twigs
from the treesthat they passed.
"Mother, what areyou doing?"he asked.
"Do not worry, my son,"sheansweredgently."I am just
marking the way so you will not get lost returning to the village."
The son stopped."Evennow you arethinking of me?"he asked,
wonderingly.
The mother nodded."Of course,my son,"shereplied."Youwill
alwaysbe in my thoughts.How could it be otherwise?"
At that, the young farmer could bear it no longer."Mother,I
cannot leaveyou in the mountainsto die all alone,"he said."Weare
goinghome and no matterwhat the lord doesto punishme,l will
neverdesertyou again."
So they waited until the sun had setand a lone star crept into the
silent sky.Then, in the dark shadowsof night, the farmer carried
his mother down the hill and they returnedquietly to their little
house.The farmer dug a deephole in the floor of his kitchenand
madea small room wherehe could hide his mother. From that day,
shespentall her time in the secretroom and the farmer carried
mealsto her there.The restof the time. he wascarefulto work in
the fieldsand act asthough he lived alone.In this way,for almost
two yearshe kept his mother safelyhidden and no one in the village
knew that shewasthere.O 4
Then one day therewasa terrible commotion among the
villagers,for Lord Higa of the town beyondthe hills threatenedto
conquertheir villageand makeit his own.
"Only one thing can spareyou," Lord Higa announced."Bring
me a box containingone thousandropesof ashand I will spare
your village:O &
The cruel young lord quickly gatheredtogetherall the wisemen
of his village."You are men of wisdom,"he said."Surelyyou cantell
me how to meet Lord Higa'sdemandsso our villagecan be spared."
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Collection1 / TellingStories