National Endowment for the Humanities
Character in Place: Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” for the Common Core
How do writers use the interaction between elements like characterization and setting to create meaning? Readers of "A Worn Path" create a series of comic book-style graphics of Eudora Welty's short story and reflect on how Welty uses...
Lied Center of Kansas
The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare
Both The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare are great additions to an elementary language arts lesson. Young readers focus on the literary elements of each story, including characters and plot development, and apply counting and...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Narrative Text Structure, Story Pieces
An activity boosts reading comprehension by challenging scholars to answer questions about a narrative tale detailing elements—plot, characters, setting, theme, problem, and solution.
Curated OER
AWARD CERTIFICATE FOR A CHARACTER
Connect to real-world experiences by having your primary learners create an award certificate based upon literal and inferential information from a story. They present the award to a character from a story and explain the criteria used....
Curated OER
Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as the...
Curated OER
Character Builder
Characters in a story are more than a name to remember. Use a character builder worksheet to write out a character's appearance, background, personality, attributes, and story relevance, including whether they are a main or minor...
Scholastic
A Reading Guide to A Wrinkle in Time
Accompany a reading of Madeleine L'Engle's classic tale, A Wrinkle in Time, with a detailed guide equipped with 15 informative and useful chapters. Scholars discover who the author is, why she wrote the book, and crucial story elements...
Curated OER
Problems and Their Solutions in Stories and Everyday Life
Students identify story elements. In this stories instructional activity, students read a story and identify the chracter, character traits, plot, setting and theme. Groups of students match problem and solution cards.
Curated OER
Sequencing The Three Billy Goats Gruff
First graders participate in sequencing activities. In this sequencing lesson, 1st graders read the book the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Students retell the story and act out the scenes in groups. Students create a mural of the story...
Curated OER
Writing Parts of a Story
For this writing worksheet, students analyze the literary elements in a story. Students write short responses for the following categories: setting, characters, beginning, middle (problem), solution and end.
Curated OER
Science Fiction Stories
Students review the story writing process and the elements such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, publishing, and assessment. Next students write a science fiction story that contains a title, the requested number of...
Curated OER
Trumpet of the Swan Story Elements
In this literature learning exercise, students complete a chart with key details about the book Trumpet of the Swan. Students fill out a circular chart with information about the setting, characters, problem and conclusion.
Curated OER
Character Traits
First graders identify the story elements in stories. In this story element lesson, 1st graders read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and they identify the characters, character traits, setting, problem, and solution. They...
Curated OER
Character Cluster
Third graders practice identifying characters and story elements by creating a character cluster in class. In this story analysis instructional activity, 3rd graders discuss the story Snow White and identify the characteristics of the...
Curated OER
Story Map 1
In this literature response worksheet, students create a story map to display the important elements in a book they have read. On this graphic organizer chart, students record setting, time, place, characters, problem, events (plot) and...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast: Literary Analysis
Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this instructional activity uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements,...
Curated OER
Goldilocks Live!!!
Study story elements with your young learners. Read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and discuss the order of events by making a story panel out of butcher paper. Sentences are given as suggestions for the panel, though you may compose...
Curated OER
Novel Jeopardy
Play a classroom version of the classic game show Jeopardy, to review and discuss the novel your class has been reading. Questions about plot and other story elements are written on cards and given point values. Divide the class into...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Drawing Conclusions Based on Literary Elements
Students compare versions of Cinderella and draw conclusions based on the story elements identified. In this literacy comprehension and story elements lesson, students read several versions of Cinderella, complete a "Comparing Folklore"...
Curated OER
Creating Characters
Students examine the methods of effective characterization. In this writing skills lesson, students discuss how emotions, dialogue, actions, and physical descriptions build believable characters. Students then use the methods of...
Curated OER
Story Mapping Abel's Island
Students are able to prioritize story elements using graphic organizers. They are able to evaluate character, setting and sequence in a non-print source. Students use visual and audio clues to help them evaluate the parts of a story.
EdHelper
George Washington's Socks by Elvira Woodruff
A solid, straightforward book report form is an excellent addition to your literature unit. Class members note the main characters, point of view, plot elements, and other important details from a story, adding their favorite part from...
Prezi
Song of the Trees by Mildred Taylor
Explore the literary elements of Mildred Taylor's Song of the Trees with this beautiful Prezi presentation. Focusing on the story's characters, setting, and major plot points, young readers are provided with a complete summary of this...
Curated OER
Pumpkin and Ghost Garland
Reading scary stories on Halloween is frightfully good fun! As elementary learners read several stories for the holiday, they choose a favorite and create a decorative garland representing the characters and setting elements found in the...