Have Fun Teaching
Silly Stories
Young writers get a jump start on story telling by selecting a plot, a setting, and multiple character cards and then use these basic elements to create a tale.
Curated OER
The Bones of a Story
For this Language Arts worksheet, students read a Clifford book and describe 5 story elements. These include title, setting, characters, problem, events, and resolution.
Curated OER
Story Elements/ Setting
Students practice the story element of setting. In this setting lesson plan, students listen to the story Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant. They discuss and describe the places that Tulip saw in the story.
Curated OER
Story Map
Fill in the graphic organizer including the setting, characters, conflict, and climax of a story. There are 8 blanks intended to assist students in seeing the relationship between the story elements.
Curated OER
Story Map
In this story elements worksheet, students complete a story map graphic organizer that contains four boxes for students to fill in information. The spaces include characters, setting and problem and solution.
Library of Congress
A Selection of Stories from The Æsop for Children
Read and incorporate a variety of Aesop's Fables into a fable genre study with an eBook produced by the Library of Congress. The interactive eBook contains 146 fables written by Aesop and includes colorful interactive illustrations by...
Curated OER
Identifying Story Elements
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.
Curated OER
Lesson Six: Story Elements/Inferring
Second graders practice the use of various story elements. In this story elements lesson, 2nd graders listen to the story All I See by Cynthia Rylant and look for the problem and solution in the story. They reread the book to create...
Curated OER
Story Elements: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
In this story elements worksheet, students respond after reading Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. Students identify the setting, main characters, problem and solution. Students write their notes in purse shapes.
Teacher's Corner
Dr. Seuss Story Map
Guide young readers through their first book report with a story map designed for a Dr. Seuss book. After your class finishes their story of choice, they list the title, characters, conflict, and other elements of literature on the book...
Have Fun Teaching
March Writing
How do you catch a leprechaun? Let your writers decide with a resource that has them thinking about story elements and writing creatively. Learners plan their writing in two graphic organizers—one with setting, characters, problem, and...
Curated OER
Understanding the Elements of Fiction
Inform your class on the elements of fiction: themes, settings, characters, plots, dialogue, narration, flashback, clues, climax, resolution. They write the definitions of the terms on the worksheet provided.l Tip: Have them write a...
Curated OER
The News Behind the Story
What a fun way to analyze plot, setting, and character. Learners review story elements, read a short fictional story, then turn the events of that story into a headlining news paper article. Not only does this lesson engage critical...
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
West Side Story Suite and In The Night Fancy Free
West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet—two classics in their own rights that help young literature lovers better analyze different works. Learners research and compare the characters and story elements of West Side Story and Romeo &...
All-in-One High School
Elements of Plot
Cinderella wants to go to the ball and marry the prince. At the end of the story, she does! But how does the plot move from the exposition to the resolution? Teach language arts learners and fairy tale fans about the basics of plot...
Southwest Career and Technical Academy
Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story - Compare and Contrast
West Side Story, the modern retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, won ten Academy Awards for its rousing depiction of the tale of star-crossed lovers. But how closely does the plot align to its source material? Compare and...
Curated OER
The Workshop
Kids take a critical look at each other's work in order to understand the editing process while providing constructive suggestions. This handout really sets learners up to successfully offer constructive critique to their peers. Helpful...
Curated OER
Brown Bagging with Short Stories
Students participate in a study of short story elements, applying their knowledge and understanding to a selection of short stories. In this short stories lesson, students read five short story selections, identifying conflict, plot,...
Pinecrest Preparatory Middle and High School
Short Story Planning Guide
A short story is only as strong as its characters, development, and conflicts. Encourage the young authors in your class to plan their stories based on the elements of narrative writing, all provided in brainstorming graphic organizers.
Curated OER
Chatty Cherry Stories
Young artists will respond to reading children's literature, by engaging in original storytelling and representing their own images through the visual arts. Then they orally describe details of people, places, and things in their stories...
Curated OER
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another story staring the...
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 plan should take about ten days to complete.
Curated OER
Adventure Story
It's always fun to make up something together as a class. This fine instructional activity has children make up and illustrate a collaborative adventure story. The essential elements of a good story (setting, characters, plot, help,...
Curated OER
Story Pyramids
Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...