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Craft Stick Story Elements
Students will be able to describe story elements found in a text orally with a small group and in writing.
- Explain to the students that the lesson focus will be on certain story elements that will help them understand what happened in a story and why.
- Read the story Leo the Late Bloomer
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling(15 minutes)
- On the craft sticks write one story element: retell, author's purpose, character traits, sequence, or main idea. Make 4-5 sets of the sticks.
- Author's purposeHelps the students understand why the author wrote the story: to entertain, give information, or persuade us.
- Character traitsAllow the students to understand and interpret characters' feelings.
- SequenceHelps us understand the order of what happened in the story.
- Main ideaExplains what the story is all about.
- Choose a stick from the bag and read it to the students.
- On the chart paper, write something about Leo the Late BloomerThat's related to the term on the stick.
- Let the students read what you have written.
- Choose another stick and let the students help you write something for it.
- Continue until all the sticks have been used.
Guided practise(20 minutes)
- Place the students in groups. Let them select captains for their groups. Review the rules for collaborative group conversations by creating a poster titled "Group Work."
- Listen to others carefully
- Speak one at a time
- Talk about the text or topic
- Have students give a thumbs up if they can agree to follow these rules for group discussions.
- Give each group a resealable bag that contains story element sticks and a tape recorder (with a cassette tape already enclosed).
- Have the captains each choose a group member to pull a craft stick from the bag.
- The member should read it to the group. Have groups discuss how the element relates to Leo the Late Bloomer.
- When a group has a consensus, instead of writing the answer, they should record their answer on the cassette.
- Have students continue until all the story element sticks have been used.
Independent working time(15 minutes)
- Let the students each choose a story element craft stick, read it, and return to their seats. Have them write in their journals the answer for the story element about the text.
- Tell them to think about the answer from their group time and write it down. Remind them to stay on topic with their answer.
- Advanced students can choose a story they have previously read. They can choose a craft stick with the story elements and work independently to write their answers for the sticks on lined paper. Have them choose at least 3 sticks.
- Work with struggling students in small groups. Together, come up with suitable responses. Write them down and let the students copy them.
- Let the students read what they wrote in their journals to a partner sitting next to their left elbow. Remind them of the rules for group conversations.
- Tell students to stay on the topic of their story element and how they chose their answer.
- Circulate and listen to their discussions. Offer suggestions where needed.
Review and closing(5 minutes)
- Review the key terms and relate them to Leo the Late Bloomer.