1st Grade · Reading · RL.1.3

Story Elements Lesson Plan for 1st Grade

A ready-to-teach story elements lesson for 1st Grade, built around characters, setting, problem and solution, filling in a story map, and matching problems to solutions in short stories. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 47 minutes

Learning objective

Name the characters and setting of a story
Tell the problem and how it was solved
Fill in a story map with words or pictures

Materials

The Kite in the Tree (Story Map)
Problem and Solution at Home
The Lost Lunchbox (Story Map)
Problem and Solution at School
The Open Garden Gate (Story Map)
Problem and Solution at the Park
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Build the background (5 min)
Connect story elements to a book the class already finished. Prior knowledge is doing most of the work in comprehension, so spend the time here.
2. Read aloud and think aloud (I do) (10 min)
Read a short passage aloud and stop twice to narrate your own thinking about story elements. Students are learning the move, not the answer.
3. Guided practice (we do) (12 min)
Read a second passage together. This time students find the evidence and you record it. Push every answer back to the text with "what words told you that?"
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "The Kite in the Tree (Story Map)". Students read and answer on their own. Circulate and ask individuals to point to the line in the text that supports their answer.
5. Share and close (5 min)
Two or three students share an answer and the evidence behind it. Restate story elements one final time in the students' own words, not yours.

Check for understanding

Ask each student to point to the evidence in the text for one of their answers. A student who has the right answer but cannot find the line has not yet learned story elements.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild story elements with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own story elements problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand story elements.

Skills covered in this lesson

Story maps · Problem and solution

Questions teachers ask about teaching story elements

What are story elements in 1st grade?

Story elements are the main parts of a story: the characters (who), the setting (where), the problem (what goes wrong) and the solution (how it gets fixed). 1st graders describe the characters, setting and major events using key details (RL.1.3).

What is a story map?

A story map is a page of boxes, one for each part of the story. After reading, children write a few words or draw a picture in each box, which helps them retell the story in order.

How do I help my child find the problem in a story?

Ask what went wrong, then ask how it got fixed. On the problem and solution pages, each mini story is only two or three sentences, so children can find both parts quickly and then think of a fix of their own.

Is there an answer key for each worksheet?

Yes. All twenty story elements sheets have an answer key. For answers children write in their own words, the key gives a sample.