Retell Literacy Center Activity – There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

I love building in retelling stories into our literacy center time. We have active literacy centers in our classroom like the retell center.

This is how I created a ‘There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ retell activity to go in our retell center as an option for my kindergarten students.

It was a combination of drawing and collecting! My kinders get to choose the book(s) they want to retell while they are at this literacy center.

They read, they act, they use lots of great vocabulary and are developing fantastic reading habits all while continuing to build their love of reading.

There Was An Old Lady

It’s one of my favorite literacy centers and we usually introduce There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly either in the fall or spring, depending upon when I can fit in reading a gazillion versions.

I like to read this story without a sing-songy voice the first time I read it {challenging!} and then re-read it once or twice until they have it memorized.

I read lots of different versions of this one too and we love discussing if they are growing stories (have a growing and repeated list) or not.

Here are the props I gathered rather inexpensively (and you can too) to bring the book alive once we knew it by heart.

Right, so, the only thing it took was me making these characters above by hand. Eeep – hard to duplicate so maybe I shouldn’t even mention it! I taped each character onto a thick popsicle stick.

The old lady has a plastic bag taped onto her back (and laminated again) so the animals appear to be inside the stomach. These coordinate with the Simms Taback version which is my favorite!

Another option is to go shopping. This was a donation and a very cool one that goes along with the Pam Adams version.

How to Make a There Was An Old Lady Retell Activity

Go back to read the Retell Literacy Center Directions if you need more details on turning this into a year long literacy center. You can make this kindergarten activity yourself!

Here are the materials you’ll need…

Materials

• Hand-drawn Old Lady and Animal Characters (okay, so don’t freak out, I’m also leaving a printable – you know I’ve got your back)
• Popsicle Sticks
• Tape
• Plastic Bag
• Markers
• There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Printable
• There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback

More ‘There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ Free Printables

• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout Printable
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell Printable
• There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat

More Versions of There Was An Old Lady We Love

Would you believe I have them all?!?

• There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star
• There Was an Old Monster
• I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
• I Know an Old Teacher
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed the Sea
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick 

Told you I had a lot of versions to read! Eeep

When do you like to read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly with your class? Do you have a couple of versions too?

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More Retell Literacy Center Book Activities for Kindergarten

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Fresh Fall Leaves
Big Pumpkin
Cinderella
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
The Little Red Hen
The Very Quiet Cricket
Red Riding Hood
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Hansel and Gretel
The Gingerbread Man
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Fat Cat
Cookie’s Week
The Doorbell Rang
The Three Little Pigs
Swimmy
See All