Read and Retell a Classic Story

First Grade, Second Grade Reading

by April Brown July 22, 2015

Your students will enjoy reading the classic story “The Ugly Duckling,” written about a very lovable duck! This
reading lesson also includes a fun partner activity to help your students practice comprehension.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to retell a fictional text with relevant details.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Whiteboard comprehension
Markers
Class set of The Ugly Duckling worksheet
Class set of The Ugly Duckling Story worksheet
Class set of the Who, What, Where worksheet
Projector
Computer
Highlighters
Scissors
Glue
Crayons

Attachments

The Ugly Duckling (PDF)

The Ugly Duckling Story (PDF)

Introduction (5 minutes)

Explain to your students that they will be reading a classic story called The Ugly Duckling.
Tell them that they will first read the story as a whole group, then they will read with partners.
Explain to the class that at the end of the lesson, they will have a chance to retell the story using pictures
to help them remember to include details about the people, places, things, and events that happened in
the story.
EL

Beginning

Have students sort a few books from the classroom library into piles of nonfiction and fiction stories.
Explicitly describe the characteristics of a nonfiction text compared to a fiction text.

Intermediate

Explain to the students that fiction stories are not real, and ask them to think of an example of a fiction
story they've read in the past or find one in the classroom library.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (20 minutes)

Give each student a copy of the reading passage and a highlighter.

Project the reading passage on the board. Ask a volunteer to identify the title, and have everyone
highlight this on their own copies.
Ask your students to make a prediction about how the story ends. Jot their ideas on the board. If your
students have already read the story, ask other students.
Remind your students that as they read the story, they should pay close attention to the characters and
events in the story as they happen.
Explain to your students that when they understand what they read, this is called comprehension.
Read the story as a whole group.
If there is a word that your students do not know, have them circle the word with the highlighter so that
you can come back to the words and review them. At the end of the story, review the words that students
highlighted.
EL

Beginning

Have students verbally summarize the story to a teacher.

Preteach vocabulary words (such as precious, open, introduce, treat, and approach) and provide students
with a bilingual dictionary in English and student's home language (L1) that they can access as they
listen to the story.
Provide students with a visual bilingual dictionary.

Intermediate

Allow students to pair up as they read the story.

Ask students to turn to a partner and verbally summarize what happened in the story.
Provide students with the following sentence frame to use as they make predictions: I predict ____ will
happen because ____.

Guided Practice (15 minutes)

Instruct your students to read the passage again with partners. Have them take turns reading sentences
or paragraphs.
As students are reading in partners, float around the room and help students with difficult words.
As you circulate the room, ask your students guiding questions. Potential questions include: "Who are the
characters in the story? Which character helps the ugly duckling grow into a confident swan? What are
some things that happen in the story? What are the places we read about in the story?"
EL

Beginning

Simplify text or allow text to be played online through the computer.

Allow students to use a graphic dictionary as they are reading to help with challenging words.
Pass out one copy of the Who, What, Where graphic organizer worksheet to each set of partners.

Intermediate

Write the following paragraph frame on the board: This story is about a(n) ____ who ____. First, ____. Then,
____ . Finally, ____. The message in the story is ____.
Ask students to use the paragraph frame to discuss the story after reading it.

Independent working time (30 minutes)

After the students are finished reading the story, pass out the Story Cards activity, construction paper,
scissors, and glue to each student.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

 Direct your students to cut out the pictures and put them in order from beginning to end. Have them glue
the pictures in order on construction paper.
Once some of the students have finished cutting and gluing their pictures on the construction paper, pass
out crayons for students to use to color in their pictures while they wait for others to finish.
When your students are done with this activity, have them pair up with someone and retell the story.
Make sure each partner gets a turn to tell the story.
Tell students to retell the story clearly and remind them to describe the story with relevant details.
EL

Beginning

Have students describe the pictures orally to the teacher using sentence frames.
Ask students to answer questions about the central message of the story in L1 or English using sentence
frames and a word bank.

Intermediate

Have students describe the pictures orally to a partner and encourage them to write down sentences
above each picture with their partner's support.
Ask students to answer questions about the central message in writing in English using sentence stems
and/or a word bank.

Related books and/or media

INTERACTIVE STORY: The Ugly Duckling

Find interactive books for each child’s level.

Differentiation

Enrichment:

If a student needs a challenge, ask her to rewrite the ending of The Ugly Duckling. Potential guiding
questions include: What would happen if the ugly duckling did not run into a kind old woman? What would
happen if the ugly duckling had not seen its reflection?

Support:

Have your students verbally retell the story without completing the picture card sequence.
Have struggling students listen and read along to the interactive story if they need help with their
reading.

Assessment (5 minutes)

During guided practice and independent working time, rotate around the room to check that students are
reading well and placing the pictures in the correct order.
Monitor student retelling of the story to make sure they include appropriate details, such as the people,
places, things, and events in the story.
EL

Beginning

Have students work in pairs to complete the picture sequence activity.

Intermediate

Split the students up into small groups. Using the pictures, story, and graphic organizer as resources,
have the students act out the story of the ugly duckling.
If time allows, have students perform the story in front of peers.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Call on a few students to discuss the successes of the lesson and the parts that were challenging.
Have one volunteer retell the story.
Allow students to express their ideas about the volunteer's retelling. For example, have them give
encouragement for including some ideas or events but excluding unnecessary details from the story.
EL

Beginning

Referring to the learning goal ("I can retell a fictional text"), ask students to rate themselves using a
thumbs up (I get it), thumb to side (still learning), or thumbs down (I need more practice).

Intermediate

Ask students to choose one of the following questions to answer and complete a think-pair-share with
their elbow partner:
What was your favorite part of the story?
How did the ugly duckling feel at the end of the story? Read the sentence that helped you decide
how he felt aloud to your partner.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Name: Date:

THE UGLY DUCKLING

by Hans Christian Andersen
It was a beautiful spring morning on a small farm near the woods. In a cool, shaded corner, a
duck built a warm nest to sit on her four precious eggs. Strangely, one of the eggs was much
larger than the rest.

To her excitement, the eggs started to rumble and

crack. One, two, three eggs popped open, and three
little ducklings poked their heads into the world. At
the same time, the biggest egg began to crack as
well. To the mother’s surprise, a big, gray duckling
stumbled out of the egg! Although he was different,
and not as cute as the other ducklings, she loved
him nonetheless.

The next day, the duck introduced her family to the other animals on the farm. Seeing the
strange gray duckling, the pig, mallard and mouse all burst out laughing. The poor duckling
bowed his head in shame. He felt like he didn’t belong. That night, as his family slept near the
barn, the gray duckling decided to leave to find people that liked him for who he was.

Before long, he ran into a kind old woman, her rooster and her cat. She invited him into her
home, and they all treated him like family. Over time, the little gray duckling began to grow.
Although he was happy, he always felt something was missing.

One day, as he stared out on the pond, he saw a family of beautiful swans wading in the cool
breeze. He wanted to go swimming with them. As he approached the pond, he saw his
reflection for the first time. The ugly duckling had grown into a beautiful swan! From below,
the cat and rooster happily watched their friend fly high in the sky. Finally, the little gray
duckling had found himself.

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