Somebody...wanted...but...so...then

Retelling is such an important skill for students to master.  Teaching kindergarten we would always begin with just telling the basic facts- the characters, the setting, then problem and the solution. Then we would progress to telling a beginning detail, a middle detail and an end detail.  You would think that since students have been retelling stories since they were in Kindergarten, by 3rd grade they would have it mastered- right?  Well, they don't- at least many of them don't.  They tell too much of the story or they choose details that aren't important, or they don't tell enough about the problem and solution.
I've used this strategy- Somebody...wanted...but...so...then- for years in one variation or another.  I love it because, if they do it correctly, it tells all the important parts.  Somebody (the main character) wants (this gets to the action of the story before the conflict) but (here's where the conflict come in) so (what does the character do to solve the problem) then (what's the resolution- how does the story end) Right now we are in middle of summarizing fictional text and I use that strategy all the time to get the students to quickly summarize a story without telling every single detail.  I made this Flip Book- it's a freebie on TpT.  You can use it in an interactive notebook, at a retelling station, or as independent work. The good thing about it is that it doesn't have a lot of intricate cutting so it's a quick cutting job.
Hope it's something that you might be able to use. :) Happy Retelling!