Story Grammar Mapping
Identify and label story grammar elements using a visual map scaffold.
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
Fill the map for a familiar tale first. The Three Little Pigs is known well enough that the child spends their effort on the structure rather than on remembering the plot, which is the point of starting there. The weekend story at the end is where the structure has to be applied to material with no ready-made shape, and it is much harder — save it for when the fairy tales are easy. Ten minutes per story.
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
Seven map boxes and three stories to fill them with: who is in the story; where does it happen; what is the problem; what did they try first; what happened next; how was it fixed; how does everyone feel at the end. Then the map gets applied to The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks, and a story about the child's own weekend.
What to listen for
Watch the tried-first box, which most children leave empty or fill with the solution. In The Three Little Pigs the first two houses are the failed attempts, and a child who jumps to the brick house has told a shorter story than the one they heard. Notice the feeling box, which is the other reliable gap.
Carrying it home
Seven boxes on a sheet of paper works with any bedtime story. Filling two or three of them aloud, without writing, takes a minute and builds the same structure.
What's in this activity
- Map box 1 — Who is in the story?
- Map box 2 — Where does it happen?
- Map box 3 — What is the problem?
- Map box 4 — What did they try first?
- Map box 5 — What happened next?
- Map box 6 — How was it fixed?
- Map box 7 — How does everyone feel at the end?
- Fill in the map for The Three Little Pigs.
- Fill in the map for Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
- Fill in the map for a story about your weekend.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through third grade, as early narrative structure work.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten cards play with no account.
- Why use familiar fairy tales?
- Because the plot is already known, so all the effort goes into the structure rather than into remembering what happened. It also makes the missing elements obvious to the child as well as to you.
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.