Retell vs. Summary vs. GIST Lesson

This complete 50–60 minute lesson helps students confidently distinguish between a retell, a summary, and a gist. These three skills are essential to comprehension, writing about reading, and responding to prompts. Designed for grades 3–5, this lesson includes a ready-to-teach Google Slides presentation, modeling routines, sentence frames, and guided/independent practice. Students learn the difference using a memorable movie analogy: 🍿 Retell = the whole movie 🎞️ Summary = the trailer 🎟️ Gist = the movie poster They then practice each skill using a short text and a simple gist formula: Who/What + Did What + When/How (in ≤ 11 words!) What’s Included ✔️ Google Slides: “What’s the difference between a summary & retell?” ✔️ Clear definitions + anchor chart visuals ✔️ Explicit modeling of retell → summary → gist ✔️ Guided practice routine for any text ✔️ Gist sentence formula & examples ✔️ Student response expectations (retell paragraph, summary sentence, gis