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What's your favourite story?

Today the four kids are sharing their favourite stories. But they soon discover that Pete has not heard one of their favourites, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

They use props from a dressing up box to help Pete understand the story. When they have finished, Pete understands the story so well that next time he wants to take part himself!

Do you know the story of Goldilocks? How would you retell it to a friend who didn’t know the story?

What's your favourite story? Maybe your granny, grandad or an older friend told you a story about their life when they were young. Maybe it’s a fairy tale that was read to you when you were little, and you never get tired of hearing it. Your favourite story could even be a film or cartoon that you enjoy watching over and over again. It might also be in a story book from your school library that you enjoy reading by yourself.

Characters

The kids realise they need to tell Pete the story so that he can understand it.

They start by telling Pete who the main characters are. The characters are the people or animals who do things in a story.

Who are the main characters in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?

They are Goldilocks, Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear.

Places

Stories happen in lots of different places.

The story of the Pied Piper takes place in a village, but the story of Little Red Riding Hood takes place in a forest.

The place where a story happens is called the setting.

Sometimes there are lots of different settings in one story.

Beginning, middle and end

To help people understand a story, we need to retell it in the order in which it takes place.

All stories have a beginning, then a middle part and finally an ending.

At the beginning of a story we usually meet the main characters and find out where the story happens.

As the story goes on, we find out a little bit more about what is happening.

Finally, we find out how the story ends.

Sometimes the story has a happy ending, but sometimes it is sad. Which type of ending do you prefer?

Use your imagination

We can retell a story in lots of different ways. Sometimes we can dress up and use props to help others understand a story. This is what happens in a play or a pantomime.

Sometimes we can draw the main parts of a story and use our pictures to help others understand what’s happening. Cartoon strips in a comic do this, they introduce you to the main characters and show you pictures of what they get up to.

Animators bring a story to life by showing you moving images in the correct order. You might have done this in school by making your favourite book characters out of clay or plasticine and then moving them into lots of different shapes.

Have you tried any of these?

Pictures

Do you enjoy retelling a story?

When you do, it shows that you have understood the story very well.

If you find it difficult, you could always draw some pictures first.

The pictures can help you remember the main parts of the story in the right order.

You're all set to go!