As educators, we know that teaching the story elements is an essential part of any language arts curriculum. But teaching these important concepts can quickly become tedious — unless you use some creative and engaging strategies to liven up your lessons! With these strategies in hand, you’ll be able to effectively impart foundational knowledge while engaging your students — ensuring they retain key narrative components for years down the road. Let’s get started!

1. Increase reading comprehension by teaching story elements vocabulary

Teaching story elements vocabulary to students is a key part of early literacy development. By exposing them to more story elements keywords, they will become familiar with the terms as they read and engage in storytelling. This increases reading comprehension and critical thought; it also allows them to determine the meaning of stories quicker. For example, teaching vocabulary like ‘book’, ‘author’, ‘illustrator’, ‘characters’, ‘setting’, ‘problem’ and ‘solution’ is great for strengthening both their writing skills as well as story comprehension since these words act as the basic building blocks for story-building. Consequently, allowing students to understand story elements will help them form a strong foundation for their future literary endeavors.

Reading with comprehension dramatically increased for my students when I started using this concept-based vocabulary for ideas for my morning meeting! They had opportunities to discuss our vocabulary and we sang and played morning meeting games using the words.

2. Reinforce vocabulary with emergent reader and images  

I use this emergent reader with real photographs to tell a story in an ideal way for my young readers to practice their skills. As they progress, they build their understanding of how stories are structured and composed. Through the use of photographs depicting story elements such as characters, setting, problem and solution, emergent readers gain literacy skills while creating a more immersive reading experience. While they may not understand all of the complexities of the narrative presented in the images, they can become more literate by paying attention to details in the pictures and finding evidence to support certain aspects of the story. By engaging with this reader that contains photographs, my students are making critical learning experiences that foster comprehension growth!

3. Essential tactile learning with virtual Boom cards

Boom cards bring story elements vocabulary to life in an interactive, engaging way. These innovative digital cards allow students to practice story elements vocabulary all in one place. The boom cards are perfect for my second language learners as they provide audio and visual reinforcement of the story elements that they need to master. They enable learning in a seamless and intuitive way that boosts student confidence and makes story element learning more enjoyable. Plus you can use them from anywhere! I have used them as instruction on the smart board each day as part of my morning meeting activities. With story elements vocabulary Boom cards, teachers have an amazing resource that can help make teaching story elements fun for everyone.

Try a few cards for free:

4. Reinforce fluency with this Story Elements Boom Card Reader

Boom cards are also a great way to help students learn and reinforce key concepts such as story elements. By allowing them to become immersed in the practice, readers can improve fluency and comprehension. This Boom Card Reader on story elements is an especially engaging installment that allows for more meaningful learning. The reader provides visuals along with text and audio, allowing readers to connect more directly with the material being learned. Additionally, it includes feedback from the game-like environment which directs readers toward better understanding of the concepts providing a greater learning experience overall. Boom cards are an excellent tool for increasing fluency and comprehension in any subject area!

Try a few cards for free:

Reinforce easily and daily with story elements no prep worksheets

These worksheets are a great way to help my students practice story elements vocabulary and word order. They cut and paste words to create sentences that use the sight words and vocabulary they have learned, allowing them to practice their literacy skills in an entertaining and interactive way. They love illustrating the sentences!  Not only do my children gain an understanding of the story element words, but they also gain additional confidence with word order, improving reading comprehension. These worksheets have also increased my kids’ critical thinking skills.

5. Make story elements fun and engaging with active learning strategies

Teaching story elements doesn’t have to be boring or overwhelming. With a little creativity, you can teach them in an engaging way, using activities that promote reading comprehension and vocabulary building. Use words, emergent readers, Boom Card Readers, and worksheets to introduce them to text structure and sentences. By using some of the fun techniques and tools described in this post, you’ll be able to successfully communicate lessons to your students and give their reading comprehension skills a jump start.

Plus, by purchasing activities that can be used year after year like the Story Elements Reading Comprehension Bundle, you can save time creating resources for future classes. So go ahead now: check out these 5 fun ways to teach story elements with vocabulary words and watch your students soar!

50% off for a limited time!