Curated OER
How Does the Story begin...or End?
Students explore the importance of the opening and closing of a story. They assess that an exciting beginning gets readers attentions and strong introductions hook and lead readers into the book or story.Also, a good conclusion leaves...
Curated OER
Publishing Stories: Beginning, Middle, End
First and second graders explore the importance of having a beginning, middle, and end when writing stories. In this story writing lesson, learners write short stories using the story diamond as a guide. They invite their parents to an...
Curated OER
Writing a Story
A terrific and meaningful presentation on story writing awaits your class. This really is a good one! Young writers are led through a series of slides that do a terrific job of teaching story elements, but the slides also stimulate their...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Painted Story Quilt
Creating story quilts is a great way to combine art, social studies and literature. Kids select a story, a published one or one of their own, to illustrate, paint on a canvas square, embellish, and mount on a felt backing.
Curated OER
Beginning Short Stories - "What Do We Have to Eat?"
After reading two short stories, learners identify vocabulary associated with food and eating. This activity with 5 questions could be used as a reading comprehension and vocabulary practice for younger students or an ESL worksheet for...
Curated OER
Beginning Short Stories w/ Questions - An Adventure
This activity, which could be used in the lower grades for reading comprehension practice or with older students as part of an ESL lesson, has learners read a short story and answer six comprehension and vocabulary questions. As part of...
Curated OER
Telling Stories in Art: Symbols of a Life
Through a series of activities, learners are exposed to how artists use symbolic imagery to create the narrative of a subject’s life. They study The Birth of Alexander and some manuscripts kept at J. Paul Getty Museum. They then draft...
Curated OER
Sound/Story
High schoolers combine creativity with the rigor of careful editing by adding music to their story. It forces them to focus on how they communicate the meaning of their story to the listener.
Curated OER
The Beginning, The Middle, & The End
Cut magazine pictures into three sections, having your youngsters piece the pictures back together. With this fun activity, they discover the importance of sequencing a story. Then they use a fun template (shaped like a burger) to write...
Curated OER
Movie Maker: Retelling a Story
Using Movie Maker, sixth graders make an eight frame movie based on a story they have written. They choose music clips, select pictures from PowerPoint, and make their movie. The lesson should take about ten days to complete.
Curated OER
Story Openings
What a terrific exploration of writing! This resource focuses on how to write a great beginning for a narrative piece. It is a thoughtful and helpful look at this topic.
Curated OER
Keyboarding - Story Grafting
Bring some humor and fun to your keyboarding or language arts class! Middle and high schoolers begin a story in response to a prompt and then move from keyboard to keyboard, continuing to add to the story while the monitor is turned off....
Curated OER
"The Story of an Hour" Lesson 1: Teacher's Guide and Notes
Attitudes toward women have changed radically in the last hundred years. The first lesson in a six-part unit that uses Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" as an anchor text begins with a shared reading of "The Role of Women...
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories II
Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...
Curated OER
Story Mapping
Fill-out a story map to help your scholars with pre-writing. They will use a story map template to pre-write. They also organize their ideas into steps which become the foundation for their first draft. Concrete objects are brought in to...
Vanier College
Analyzing Short Stories/Novels
Good questions can help focus readers' attention on the elements writers use to add depth to their stories. The questions on this worksheet do just that and encourage readers to think critically about a story and author's purpose.
Curated OER
Adventure Stories
Have your class write adventure stories. In a step-by-step manner, learners discuss techniques that can be used to make their stories interesting and complete. They analyze the purpose of the story, the ways they can generate excitement,...
Curated OER
A Fantasy Story: Baby Bear's Space Journey
Give this literacy worksheet to your beginning readers to help them draw out key details and retell in their own words. They read a short fantasy story about a bear in space which includes dialogue, onomatopoeia, and a simple story line....
Curated OER
Dream Catcher Story Web
A well-designed graphic organizer which should help young readers capture the important details of a story is here for you. In it, learners fill in boxes that capture the introduction, beginning, details, and conclusion of the story.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension - Short Stories: "Remains of a Marriage"
Planning a short story unit? Consider including this worksheet early in your plan. "Remains of a Marriage" provides the text that could be used as the basis of a lesson on close reading, on comprehension strategies, and/or group...
Classical Academies
Story Openings
How should you begin a story? Show this presentation to give your class a few ideas. Each slide includes information about story openings and examples of certain types of story openings written by well-known authors. After showing the...
Student Handouts
Beginning-Middle-End Chart
Track the plot of a book with a straightforward chart. Pupils write in the title of the book and then note down what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
K5 Learning
Authors Tell Different Stories
The story of Cinderella is a popular one! So much so, there are multiple versions of the story being told around the world. With this collection of activities your young readers receive background information about two versions...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 11: Beginnings
Every good novel needs a solid beginning! Setting the stage can have your budding authors stumped, so use this lesson to get them thinking. After examining the plot rollercoaster image (included) they consider the four places their story...