This identifying theme activity helps 3rd to 5th grade students match short stories to their themes and back them up with text details. Answer key included.
Students read 12 short fable cards in this determining theme activity for 3rd to 5th Grade, match each to a theme, and cite a detail. Answer key included.
Read, retell and find the moral with this fables and folktales activity for 2nd and 3rd grade: story cards, moral cards, talk cards and a Story Map, with an answer key included.
Kids sort story cards with this beginning middle end plot activity for 1st to 3rd grade, then retell the story on a roller coaster plot chart. An answer key is included for easy checking.
This comparing themes of two stories activity for 3rd-5th grade turns story pairs into a fun matching game, with a graphic organizer, practice page, and answer key included.
In this describing characters beginning middle and end activity, 1st to 3rd Grade students order story cards and name feelings. Answer key included.
This determining theme graphic organizers activity helps 3rd to 5th grade students find the lesson in a story, a play and a poem, then practice with fables. Answer key included.
Using Feeling Words Activity, students read Amy Goes to First Grade to find words and phrases that describe Amy's feelings on the first day of school.
This identifying literary elements activity has students sort 16 element cards into poem, drama, and prose. Made for 3rd to 5th grade, with a practice page and answer key included.
This character setting plot activity has 1st to 3rd graders read a short story, sort story cards by element, and order the plot. Answer key included for quick checking.
This what's the moral of the story activity helps 2nd and 3rd graders read short fables, retell them, and match each one to its lesson. Answer key included for quick checking.
Using Characters Sketch Activity, students describe in depth a character,setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text.
This how does the character respond activity for 1st to 3rd grade pairs a read-aloud story with a match game and a reusable organizer. Answer key included.
Use this key details for comprehension activity with Kindergarten to 3rd grade readers to find characters, setting, problem and solution in a story. Answer key included, so checking work is quick.
This finding story elements activity has 3rd to 5th grade partners compare two short stories and sort ten Story Cards as mostly similar or mostly different. Answer key included.
Using My Point of View Activity, students distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
Use this looking at the character's viewpoints activity with 2nd and 3rd grade readers. Students sort story lines by character and map their feelings; an answer key is included.
This point of view activity has 1st-4th grade students hold up Character or Narrator signs to show who is telling each scene. Fold-over cards check the clue words, and an answer key is included.
Using thisSilly Stories Story Starters, studentschoose a Character, Setting and Plot from the picture and word cards to write or tell a story about the fun and unique combination.
Using How are They the Same Compare and Contrast Story Elements Activity, students compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters.
Who, where, what went wrong, and why it matters.
Third graders already know a story has characters, a setting and a plot. Now they dig deeper. They describe characters by their traits, feelings and motivations, and explain how a character's actions move the story along. They follow the plot from the problem to the solution and recount the events in order. They also read fables and folktales from different cultures and figure out the lesson or moral, like "slow and steady wins the race." The click moment is when kids stop saying "the character was nice" and start saying "she shared her lunch, so she is generous."
Story elements stick when kids can map them, act them and argue about them. These moves do all three.
After reading, have kids fill a story map with characters, setting, problem, key events and solution. Then they use only the map to retell the story to a partner. If the retell falls apart, the map is missing something.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withStory Map Graphic OrganizerGraphic OrganizersOpen it →Have kids describe a character at the beginning, middle and end of a story and note what changed and why. Seeing a character grow helps third graders connect actions to traits and motivations.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withDescribing Characters Beginning Middle and End ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Read a short story aloud and pause when the problem appears: "Uh oh, here is the problem. I wonder how they will fix it." Then model finding the solution and how the character got there. Kids then try the next story with a problem and solution organizer.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withProblem and Solutions Graphic Organizer WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Fables, morals and a little friendly debate.
ActivitiesKids read a short fable and race to name its lesson. Then they debate whose moral fits best.
Open What's the Moral of the Story Activity →
ActivitiesKids compare fables and folktales from around the world and find the lessons they share.
Open Fables and Folktales Activity →
ActivitiesKids compare two stories by their characters, settings and plots on a simple chart.
Open How are They the Same Compare and Contrast Story Elements Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Identifying Theme Activity, Determining Theme Activity and Fables and Folktales Activity.
The main story elements are characters, setting, plot (with a problem and solution) and theme or moral. Third graders also describe character traits and explain how characters' actions affect the events.
A feeling changes during the story, like scared or happy. A trait describes who the character is most of the time, like brave or kind. Kids find traits by looking at what a character does again and again.
Start with fables, where the lesson is clear. Ask "What did the character learn?" and "What should we learn from this?" Then move to longer stories where kids have to figure out the lesson on their own.
After reading a bedtime story or watching a movie, ask who the main character was, where it happened, what the problem was and how it was solved. Five quick questions build the habit.
Loved by 2 million teachers & families
Printables, songs and games for every subject, Preschool through 6th. Ready to teach today, and kids beg for more.
