2nd Grade · Reading · RL.2.3

Story Elements Lesson Plan for 2nd Grade

A ready-to-teach story elements lesson for 2nd Grade, built around characters, setting, problem, beginning, middle and end events, solutions, and thinking of a new solution to a story problem. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 47 minutes

Learning objective

Name the characters, setting and problem of a story
Retell the beginning, middle and end
Write the solution on a story map

Materials

Two Projects, One Table (Story Map)
Problem and Solution, Neighborhood Stories
The Rained Out Game (Story Map)
Problem and Solution, Classroom Stories
Zoe's Squeaky Shoes (Story Map)
Problem and Solution, Family Trip Stories
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 "Two Projects, One Table (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 story elements do 2nd graders learn?

2nd graders name the characters, setting, problem and solution, and tell the main events from the beginning, middle and end. They also describe how characters respond to what happens (RL.2.3).

How is a 2nd grade story map different from a 1st grade one?

The 2nd grade map adds three events in order, beginning, middle and end, and children write their answers on lines instead of a word or a drawing in a box.

Why ask children for a different solution?

Thinking of another way to fix a problem shows they understood what went wrong, and it builds the planning they will use in their own stories. Any sensible solution counts.

Is there an answer key for each worksheet?

Yes. All sixteen story elements sheets have an answer key, with sample answers for the parts children write in their own words.