Learning to retell a fictional story isn't something that comes easily to students in the detail we're expecting as educators. I've tried many different strategies for teaching students to retell in primary grades, but my kiddos' retells were always lacking. For example, if I asked them to give me a "beginning, middle and end" summary that's about all I got... no mention of characters or setting. Needing more, I created this Fist to Five retell strategy.

In my classroom, we don't fill imaginary buckets. We tend and cultivate and nurture self-esteem and confidence and positive attitudes. We grow Heart Gardens.

We all have students who struggle and require differentiated activities in order to access grade-level concepts, but how many of you put the same attention into differentiating for your stronger students? While often forgotten because they do well no matter what the activity, these students deserve the richest learning opportunities we can give them. Today, I have some suggestions for how you can easily differentiate your classwork to reach these high achievers!