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...

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...

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,...

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...

Story elements: the problem and the solution. Help your youngsters identify these elements by reading Bringing Down the Moon, by Jonathan Emmett. After a class discussion and chart creation discussing problems and solutions from past...

How do you know the book you are reading is a fantasy? Explore the characteristics of the fantasy genre as you read the story Zathura with your class. Together you'll create a class chart that identifies the fantasy genre while building...

Sixth graders chart a story. In this plot elements activity students chart and then retell a story from the rising action until the resolution. Students use stories from the book America Street.

Students explore relationships between story characters. In this story elements and reading comprehension lesson, students generate character traits of the characters in Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson. Students describe...

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...

Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...

Young scholars read Hansel and Gretel, and discuss the conflict in the story, while determining who the protagonist and the antagonist are.  In this fiction lesson plan, students chart the conflict in the story they have just...

Every good story has a plot, and every good plot contains a conflict or problem. Third graders familiarize themselves and identify how problems in a story are connected. First as a class and then in small groups or individually, learners...