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This musical resource contains videos for story elements and structure that are suitable for primary students. This particular video discusses beginning, middle, and end, and what the story is mostly about (plot). Because it is set to music, primary students will likely enjoy using it as a resource and add some fun to the lesson.

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Parts of a Story | Language Arts Song for Kids | English for Kids | Jack Hartmann

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Anchor charts can be a very powerful way to brainstorm and reinforce ideas and concepts that are important for students to remember and refer back to if needed. Creating an anchor chart collaboratively as a class using colors, drawings, and brainstorming ideas is a great way to put everyone's ideas and input on one large document to be displayed in the classroom or work space.

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I always like to review literary elements pretty early on in the year because we use it so much in our reading. A BIGGIE for 5th graders is comparing characters, setting, and events in a single text and across multiple texts. But, before we compare, I like to review first! Although theme is part of literary elements, I like to save it until last because students seem to really struggle with it. For this lesson, we reviewed character, setting, events, and plot.

First, I started off with making this adorable anchor chart! We went over this during our whole group lesson on Monday.

As we went over it, I had the students record their notes on a simple cover page I attached to their packet I gave them for the week.

Our packet includes pages from Jen Jones' Comprehension Strategy Sheets for Grades 3-6. I LOVE this packet! It is well worth every dime spent. I use it any time I teach a standard. It has the sheets organized by standard which is very time saving. She also has an informational packet that I own, too! Here's a two-page preview of the pages I use. You should totally go check it out. Our packet just for these four skills is about 10 pages. And, since it includes standards 3-6, you can remediate or enrich as needed! Score!

We work through this packet for the remainder of the week in whole and small groups. We use our read aloud to complete the activities so we can all work together or with partners.

Before we moved on to talk about character traits that a specific character had, I introduced character traits with a character trait checklist that I found online. Then, I use Leslie Ann's Character Trait Reading Passages to practice. I also incorporate some writing about the characters and have the students support their writing with evidence from the text by using our evidence board.

Once we have mastered all these things we move on to theme and author's message. We spent about 2 weeks on this unit. Well worth the time!

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I always like to review literary elements pretty early on in the year because we use it so much in our reading. A BIGGIE for 5th graders is comparing characters, setting, and events in a single text and across multiple texts. But, before we compare, I like to review first!

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This is a great printable for students to practice re-telling stories in the order they appear. Aside from characters and setting, plot can be challenging for young students to recall in order. Encouraging students to take their time and think about the story in a logical sequence will help the story make more sense to them, and in turn, improving comprehension.

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Retelling rope, student page and poem with student rope pics.pdf

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Teaching Without Frills is a channel on YouTube that has simple, interactive, teacher created videos. The videos are no longer than 4-5 minutes long and are designed specifically for elementary students. There are videos for literacy and math topics. These videos would be good to use to reinforce a topic already taught or to introduce a new topic.

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Story Elements For Kids: What Is a Character?

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Story Elements For Kids: What Is a Character?

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An excellent website with text suggestions for each story element. Along with the text suggestion are graphic organizers that can be used with your lessons. There are also suggestions on where to find each text and how much each text is. This website also offers lesson ideas for science, social studies, math and writing.

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Read Alouds for Teaching Story Elements | Mentor Texts for Reading - Teaching with Jennifer Findley

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This post shares 15 read alouds for teaching story elements with brief summaries and the specific story element skills each read aloud addresses.

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Storyline Online is a website which features popular books being read out loud by famous people, most that children will recognize. Each book comes with a teacher's guide of lessons and activities. Although the standards are American, the lessons are very organized and well suited for each grade.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Scholastic Teachables offers downloadable resources for teachers according to grade, subject, and theme. There are options to download pre-made booklets and interactive activities. Although these resources are not free, they offer a 30 day free trial with no restrictions. Once resources are downloaded they can be stored on the website in a filing cabinet or printed.

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Scholastic Teachables - browse all worksheets, resources, printables, and more for the classroom! Save hours of prep time with our online treasure trove of ready-to-go lessons, printables, and activities for every grade, subject, and skill level.

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Reading Rockets is a media outlet that offers research based strategies, lessons, activities designed to help children learn how to read. There is a section dedicated to apps teachers and students can use in school to reinforce concepts. Many of the apps listed are free but there are many that need to be purchased but will offer a free trial.

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The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. We've gathered information about apps that provide practice with specific comprehension skills, including sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), as well as several mind mapping apps. Mind maps are visual diagrams that help students represent words or ideas and can be used in reading and writing.

Many of the reviews we link to are from Common Sense Education, a trusted resource for learning about apps and other edtech tools.

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The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. We've gathered information about apps that provide practice with specific comprehension skills, including sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), as well as several mind mapping apps.

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform where you can easily create, share , and play learning games or quizzes. You have the option to sign up for be a guest. If you sign up you can save the games and quizzes you create. Kahoot! is designed to be used in a group setting which will enhance the fun and excitement of assessment.

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Literacy Ideas is a collection of experienced teachers and writers that contribute ideas on all things reading and writing. There are many scholarly articles designed for teachers to understand the science behind student learning. Many of the articles are supported by statistics, graphics, printables, and updated information on new literacies. It is a very good website.

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When students have gained sufficient experience in recognizing these basic story elements, they can then begin work on the more advanced story elements, regardless of their age.

Let's take a brief look at four of these more advanced story elements.

1. Point of View: To identify the POV in a story, students must ask "who is telling the story?" Is it a first, third, or even second (rare!) person narrator? Are they omniscient or limited in their perspective? Does the perspective shift between different characters?

2. Tone: A writing's tone is established through word choices, use of literary devices, grammar, rhythm, and rhyme etc. Tone is the overall 'flavour' of the story that is created by using all of these techniques combined. It is the attitude the writer displays towards their subject or theme.

3. Style: Related to tone in many regards, style is the individual author's unique voice and it is again evidenced in their word choices, plot patterns, sentence structures etc. The writer's personal style is a strong contributor to a writing's tone.

4. Mood: This is about the effect the writer creates in the reader and how they evoke it through their use of language.

These more advanced elements are a little more difficult to define than those on the basic list and therefore can be confusing for students who are new to them. All these elements pertain to how words are used; but style also pertains to the purpose of the text, tone to the author's attitude to the subject, with mood being concerned with the reader's attitude to the subject.

Why Are Story Elements Important?
There are many reasons students need to be well-versed in identifying the elements of a story, not least of which is the deeper levels of comprehension and enhanced appreciation this brings. Understanding how a story is organized is necessary for students to access the highest levels of comprehension of that story. Understanding how a story is organized also provides students with a frame of reference that greatly assists with recall. Often important, especially where exams are concerned, the implications here for subjects outside the English classroom are obvious too.

Being familiar with the various elements that combine together in good storytelling also helps students in their own writing. It helps students to organise their thoughts and to competently weave together the various threads of their own stories. No small feat for an experienced writer, let alone a novice!

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Teaching Story Elements - Literacy Ideas

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When students have gained sufficient experience in recognizing these basic story elements, they can then begin work on the more advanced story elements, regardless of their age. Let's take a brief look at four of these more advanced story elements. Point of View: To identify the POV in a story, students must ask "who is telling the story?"