Story Grammar Elements
Identify character, setting, problem, and solution.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
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.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
- ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.
Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.
Matching IEP goal
Given a picture or story prompt, Student will tell a story that includes a character, setting, problem and ending in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →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.
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.
What's in this activity
- Character: who is the story about?
- Setting: where and when does it happen?
- 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?
- Find the character and setting in the story you just heard.
- Find the problem and the solution in the story you just heard.
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.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.