About this activity
Ten cards naming the story grammar elements: character, who is the story about; setting, where and when; problem, what goes wrong; feeling, how does the character feel; plan, what do they decide to do; action, what do they actually do; solution, how does the problem get fixed; ending, how does the story finish. The last two cards apply the whole set to a story just heard.
How to use it in a session
Use the cards against a story the child already knows rather than a new one, so all the effort goes into the analysis. Feeling and plan are the two that get skipped, and they are the two that turn a sequence of events into a narrative — a student who can name them in someone else's story will start including them in their own. Twelve minutes covers a familiar story with all eight elements.
What to listen for
Watch which elements the student can find and which they cannot. Character and setting are almost always available; problem is usually available; feeling and plan are the two that go missing, and that pattern is nearly universal. Notice whether they can distinguish plan from action — deciding to do something and doing it are different, and students often collapse them.
Carrying it home
Any bedtime story supports two questions. What went wrong, and how did they feel about it, takes twenty seconds and targets exactly the elements that go missing.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, for narrative comprehension and production.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten cards play with no account.
- Which element should I target first?
- Feeling, usually. It is the one most often missing and the one that changes a sequence of events into a story, which is what most narrative goals are actually about.