LITERACY CENTER PROJECT REPORT

Your Name: Jennifer Marion

Title of Center: Crazy Comic Story Retelling
Grade Level: 4th
Skill (and standard #) addressed from the Common Core/Maryland State Curriculum:
Standards for Speaking and Listening (SL)
Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL4 CCR Anchor Standard
SL4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized
manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or
themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
SWBAT speak at an appropriate rate, volume, and tone.
SWBAT summarize a story they heard by drawing the main events.
SWBAT tell a story using sentences starters.
SWBAT organize their thoughts in their head and on paper.
Brief Description
This center allows students to work on their comprehension and fluency. Students
will work on their fluency by using sentence starters to create and verbally tell a story.
Students will work on their comprehension by summarizing the oral story they heard
their partner tell through a comic strip. It stores nicely in a folder and the teacher can
make more sentence starters and swap them out to keep the center engaging and
entertaining.
Materials
Blank copies of the instruction sheet, the sentence starters, the Ideas sheet, and
the Crazy Comic are provided at the end. Additional materials include a clock with
seconds or a timer, dry erase markers, a baggy, tissue as an eraser, and at least 14 page
protectors, so the worksheets become dry erasable. Note: The teacher should place the
Ideas sheet and the Crazy Comic sheet in the page protectors, so they can be reused.
Student Scaffolding and Differentiation
Identify at least 2 academic language demands at this center (e.g., vocabulary that may be
unfamiliar, genre, big ideas/concepts, figurative language, multisyllabic words)? What
scaffolding will you provide so that students can meet these 2 academic language

demands? Write at least 2 comments about the scaffolding you will provide
for each academic language demands.
The 2 academic language demands at this center are big ideas/concepts when
dealing with creating an original story off the top of the students head and the other
academic language demand is being able to summarize. There is scaffolding for the
individual practicing fluency and the individual practicing their comprehension. For
fluency, the student starts with 30 seconds to write their ideas for the story they are about
to tell. Then, they get 15 seconds to write their ideas down. Lastly, they dont get to write
their ideas down. The help of organizing their ideas on paper slowly goes away in order
for them to be able to fluently speak and create an idea off the top of their head. For
comprehension, the student start with having to summarize the story they heard in 6
panels, then move to 5 panels, and lastly move to 3 panels in order to help them narrow
the main points, the beginning, middle, and end, of the story down.
How would this center address the needs of multiple abilities, strengths, and needs of the
students in your future classroom? Write at least 2 Comments.
This center addresses multiple strengths by incorporating a listening portion, a
speaking portion, and a drawing portion. By incorporating these, this center helps
students who are more visual learners and more audio learners. The center provides nontypical ways of summarizing, which is through drawing a comic strip.
Student Accountability System:
How do you organize the accountability system so that students completed their work?
The center is done on dry erase material. The students are not to erase their work
that way the teacher can view the comic strip summary of the told stories when the
teacher has time along with the list of ideas the storyteller came up with. The teacher can
take pictures on their phone of the comic strips and/or the ideas list. The comic strips and
ideas sheet can be erased and used again. The teacher can match up the ideas to the
comic strips and keep a checklist of who has completed each station.
Would students able to independently complete the work at this center? No. (explain)
Students would not be able to complete this center independently because it is a
partner center. One person needs to be telling a story and the other person needs to be
listening to the story being told and summarize what they just heard by drawing a comic
strip. Two people are needed.

Crazy Comic Story Retelling

Directions: Its partner time! Choose a buddy, grab some dry erase
markers and tissues, and each person needs one sheet called Ideas
and three sheets called Crazy Comic. Put your name at the top of
your sheets and dont erase the marker when you finish. I want to see
your comics and list of ideas! Then, follow the steps below. Have fun!
1. Decide on who will start as the storyteller and who will start as
the comic drawer.
2. The storyteller picks a sentence starter from the baggy. Take 30
seconds to make a list to help organize your ideas for a
beginning, middle, and end for your story on the Ideas
sheet. Have your partner time you. Once your 30 seconds is up,
tell your crazy story to your partner.
3. After the storyteller has told their first story, the comic drawer
should summarize the story they just heard by making a 6-panel
comic on a Crazy Comic sheet! Youll have 2 minute. Have
your partner time you!
4. The same storyteller picks a different sentence starter from the
baggy. Take 15 seconds to make a list to help organize your
ideas for a beginning, middle, and end for your story on the
Ideas sheet. Have your partner time you. Once your 15
seconds is up, tell your next crazy story to your partner.
5. After the storyteller has told their second story, the comic drawer
should summarize the story they just heard by making a 5-panel
comic on a Crazy Comic sheet! Youll have 1 minute. Have
your partner time you!
6. The same storyteller has their last turn! Pick a sentence starter
from the baggy and start telling your story right away this time!
No notes to help you. You can do it!
7. After the storyteller has told their last story, the comic drawer
should summarize the story they just heard by making a 3-panel
comic on a Crazy Comic sheet! Youll have 1 minute. Have
your partner time you!
SWITCH ROLES! If you were the storyteller, now be the comic drawer.
If you were the comic drawer, now be the storyteller. Start at step 2!
Go!
Once you are done, talk to your partner about how you did at each
role.
As the storyteller, did I

Have a beginning, middle, and end for each story I shared?

Speak clearly, at an appropriate rate, volume, and tone so my
partner understood me?
Create an interesting story that made sense?

As the comic drawer, did I

Listen to the storyteller?
Remember what the storyteller said?
Include the beginning, middle, and end in my comic drawings?

Sentence Starters Cut out and put in baggy.

Once there was a giant turtle who

Yesterday it started storming when
I took a walk to the park when
I opened my front door and saw
My mom yelled from downstairs saying

My older brother went to

I heard my dog barking to
I expected to see
I was really surprised when
Every night before I go to bed, I hear
The castle was filled with
The lion slowly walked toward the

My teacher surprised me by

Ideas
Story #1

Story #2

Crazy Comic