Understanding Story Elements: Characters, Setting, and Plot
Understanding Story Elements: Characters, Setting, and Plot Objective: Students will be able to describe how characters, settings, and major events in a story relate to each other by listening to a story and identifying these elements.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the characters in a story.
- Describe the setting of the story.
- Retell the major events or plot of the story in order.
- Explain how characters, setting, and events are connected.
Materials Needed
- A copy of a short story appropriate for 2nd grade (such as ‘Frog and Toad Are Friends’ by Arnold Lobel or a similar familiar story)
- Paper and crayons or colored pencils
- Story element graphic organizer (with sections for characters, setting, and events)
Key Vocabulary
- Character
- A person, animal, or thing in a story.
- Setting
- Where and when the story happens.
- Plot
- The main events that happen in a story.
Detailed Activities
Read and Discuss the Story
- Read the selected short story aloud to the student, pausing to show pictures if available.
- Ask the student to name who the story is about (characters) and where the story takes place (setting).
- Discuss the main events that happened in the story, helping the student to retell them in order.
Complete the Story Element Organizer
- Give the student the graphic organizer with sections labeled Characters, Setting, and Events.
- Help the student draw or write the characters in the story in the Characters section.
- Ask the student to describe or draw the setting in the Setting section.
- Together, list or draw the major events from the story in the Events section.
Connect the Elements
- Talk about how the characters’ actions are related to the setting and events.
- Ask questions like: ‘How did the setting affect what happened in the story?’ or ‘Why did the characters do what they did?’
- Encourage the student to explain how characters, setting, and events work together to make the story interesting.
Parent & Instructor Notes
- This lesson focuses on helping your child understand important parts of a story and how they fit together.
- Reading aloud and discussing the story will support comprehension and vocabulary development.
- Use familiar stories to make the activity more engaging and relatable for your child.
Assessment Questions
- Who are the characters in the story?
- Where does the story take place?
- What are the main events that happened?
- How do the characters and setting affect the story’s events?
Extension Ideas
- Have your child draw their own story including characters, setting, and events.
- Read a different story and compare its characters and setting to the first story.
- Create a simple puppet show to retell the story, emphasizing characters and events.
Frequently Asked Questions
Try using pictures from the story or real-life examples to explain where the story takes place. You can also ask guiding questions like ‘Is it inside a house or outside in a park?’ to help them understand.
Use expressive voices and gestures when reading, and encourage your child to ask questions about the story. Relate the story to your child’s experiences to make it more meaningful.
Teacher’s Guide
Common Misconceptions:
- Children may confuse setting with characters or plot.
- Students might focus only on events without recognizing how characters and setting influence those events.
- Some students may retell events out of order, missing important story structure.
Scaffolding Ideas:
For Struggling Students:
- Provide more guided questions and one-on-one discussion to help identify story elements.
- Use stories with clear, simple plots and familiar settings.
- Allow drawing instead of writing responses to demonstrate understanding.
For Advanced Students:
- Encourage your child to describe how the author’s choice of setting influences the characters’ actions.
- Have them compare two stories and explain differences in structure and elements.
- Challenge them to create a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end using the graphic organizer.
Pacing Recommendations:
- Spend about 15 minutes reading and discussing the story to ensure comprehension.
- Allow 15 minutes for completing the graphic organizer with support.
- Use the remaining 15 minutes for connecting elements and reviewing concepts.
Standards
- 2.RL.5 — Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
Printable Worksheet
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