Three great graphic organizers guide readers to see how the elements of plot and main idea can be charted to reveal the theme of a story. Model the process on the provided Direct Teaching Teacher Graphic Organizer using Aesop’s The...

Help your class identify story elements. They will discuss character, setting, problem, and solution after reading a story. A graphic organizer will help them to identify various elements with guided practice and independent practice...

Sixth graders analyze plot conflict with science fiction and TV programs. After discussing the conflict, they identify solutions for the programs selected. They examine Only You Can Save Mankind for conflict, and consider ways the...

Learners explore characters' decisions. They play a card game in which they match a decision card with a direct effect card. Then they examine characters from The Wizard of Oz, record important decisions that they make on index cards,...

Second graders identify the events in a story using story elements. In this story elements lesson, 2nd graders review the story elements and read Dav Pilkey's book, Dog Breath: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis. Students practice...

Writers use the literary element of conflict to develop their theme. Use the conflict between the Johnny and the ScreeWees in Terry Pratchett’s Only You Can Save Mankind to model how a major theme is revealed. The conflict between the...

Sixth graders identify components of the setting in science fiction text. In this compare and contrast settings lesson, 6th graders read Only You Can Save Mankind and identify similarities and differences between science fiction...

The stories in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street form the basis for a lesson on plot elements. The class examines introduction, sequence, problem, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution and identifies these...

Fifth graders identify plot conflicts in the text. For this plot conflict lesson, 5th graders read Dogs Don't Tell Jokes and recognize examples of character vs. self and character vs. character. 

Students explore the connection between analyzing a character and the character plot conflict. In this plot conflict lesson students role play two characters in the story, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Students also pretend to be a...

Fifth graders analyze the effect of character choices. In this lesson students read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Students explore the affect of decisions on the plot of the story. 

Third graders understand how to find the theme of a fable. In this theme lesson, 3rd graders use graphic organizers to record the events of a fable. Students use that information to determine the lesson of the story. Students do a guided...

Fourth graders identify the point of view. In this point of view lesson students compare and contrast the point of view from third person omniscient and first person. Students rewrite a paragraph in an alternative point of view.

Demonstrate how to track the elements of plot in a story. After watching you mark down the rising action, problem, climax, falling action, and resolution for Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth, pupils complete a graphic organizer for Sweet...

Model for young learners how to determine the theme of a story. Read aloud Aesop’s The Fox and the Stork. Chart the plot and the main idea of the fable, showing class members how these elements support the theme. Fable titles for...

Fourth graders see how the setting affects the plot. In this setting lesson, 4th graders listen to The Three Brothers : A German Folktale by Carolyn Croll and see how the setting affects the outcome of the story. They read a new...

Sixth graders explore theme in science fiction texts by examining how plot conflicts are resolved. This resource focuses on Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, but the approach and guiding questions could apply to a variety of texts.

Students explore story structure. In this Groundhog's Day story structure literacy lesson, students listen to the story Groundhog Stays Up Late by Margery Cuyler, then pause half way through the story to identify the problem and...

Kindergartners identify where a story takes place. In this literature lesson, learners take a picture walk and discuss how pictures can provide clues to the location of the story. They then illustrate where a new story of their own takes...

Rising and falling actions are big parts of how a plot moves through the course of a story, narrative, or novel. Youngsters use examples from their texts as they examine where the action rises and falls in the book, How My Parents...

Practice identifying the setting with a reading activity. Kindergartners find the setting of a story by observing when the story takes place. They read the book Look! Snow! by Kathryn O. Galbraith and decide in which season the story...

Students draw the setting of a story.  In this setting and context clues lesson, students learn how to use textual clues to determine and visualize the setting of stories.  Students discuss the context clues they use to...

Do the actions of a character in a story change based on the setting the writer provides? Learners explore the concept of character action in relation to story setting by investigating the setting and events in the story Science...

Fourth graders look at the importance of setting in a story. In this setting lesson, 4th graders see how the setting of a story affects the actions of the characters and how you can predict these actions based on the setting. They read...