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...

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...

First and second graders explore character as a story element. They  listen to the first part of the story First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and observe the teacher modeling a compare and contrast characters activity. Learners...

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...

Second graders explore story elements. In this language arts lesson, 2nd graders identifying characters, setting, and plot in familiar stories. Students listen to a story and complete a graphic organizer.

Introduce your class to characterization. Familiar story characters are sorted into "good" and "bad" categories based on the characters' personalites and actions in the story. The class discusses and describes characters they have read...

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...

Help young readers find the setting in the story. They will review what a setting is with a modeled example by the teacher. After reading The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down by Paul Brett Johnson and completing a practice sheet,...

Young learners explore the antagonist. They retell Hansel and Gretel and identify the witch and the stepmother as antagonists. They then brainstorm common character traits of an antagonist, and then write a paragraph describing...

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,...

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...

Students identify the characteristics of the genre of mystery.  In this genre lesson, students discover the elements of a mystery story and begin recording the elements on a class chart of the book entitled Two-Minute Mysteries: The...

Students explore story structure. In this story structure literacy lesson, students listen to the story Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, stopping at points to identify a problem and predict possible solutions which are then written on...

Students explore story structure. In this Groundhog's Day story structure literacy activity, 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 plan, 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...

Read aloud to your class the fable "The Lion and the Mouse" as you explore characters' choices and the effects they have on a story. Apply what is discussed to finding a theme of the chapter "Not Giving Up" from The Wizard of...

  Learners study the elements of fantasy in fiction as a whole group by dissecting fiction stories.  In this story elements lesson plan, students work through a handout about fantasy to point out the elements that point to the...

An engaging video featuring William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is accompanied by six activities designed to reinforce vocabulary, story elements, and comprehension. Scholars match words to pictures, place events in sequential order,...

It's all about the details found in the text, when children attempt to describe the main character from the story, Burnt Toast on Davenport Street. They first discuss the process by which one would go about using textual...

Stories from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street provide sixth graders with an opporltunity to identify the elements of a short story. After several modeling exercises, readers use the provided worksheet to recording information...

Third graders read the book How the Fox Tricked the Tiger and determine the theme based on the events in the story. For this theme lesson plan, 3rd graders list the events in a graphic organizer.

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

Practice distinguishing biography from autobiography through point of view. Tell a brief story of your morning. Have a class member retell the story to you (using second person). And have another retell the story to the class (using...