Structure of a Story: Plot

Elementary students need to understand the structure of a story. Knowing the elements of a story will help with comprehension during reading and when writing one, not to mention it’s one of the Common Core: RL.2.7. Characters, setting, point of view and plot are the basic elements of a story.

Let’s focus on the plot.

The plot is the sequence of events that take place in a story. To begin, students need to know that all stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Later, you can introduce “rising action” at the beginning of a story, “climax” in the middle, and “falling action” and “resolution” at the end. You can accomplish this by teaching and reviewing the plot line diagram for stories your students read. Here is an anchor chart and an introductory PLOT lesson for any story:

Use the PLOT Anchor Chart (which looks like a roller coaster) to retell the story /tell the plot. 

Divide the students into three groups. 

•One group will write the rising action or the beginning events of the story on sticky notes and place them on the PLOT anchor chart you have projected on the board.

•The second group will write the middle of the story events or climax on a sticky note and place it on the anchor chart. 

•The third group will write the end of the story or the falling action events and solution on sticky notes and place them on the anchor chart. 

• Let each group share what they wrote. 

•Then, ask them to recount the story on their paper.

Using read-aloud picture books is perfect for this lesson because the stories are short enough to read in one sitting. Any well-written book will work for this lesson, but in honor of October, I recommend Maurice Sendak’s books. His book characters are cute little monsters, which is a non-scary way to nod at Halloween. I have a resource available on my TpT store that teaches the Elements of Story using five of his books. Click the link to see a preview.