First grade students are deepening their understanding of story elements including characters, setting, and plot, as we read and write fairy tales.  Working with fairy tales, or familiar characters and story lines, has enabled students to identify and discuss story elements.  As we wrap up the school year, students are applying their knowledge to a final writing project, creating their own fairy tale.  Descriptions of story and fairy tale elements are listed below.

Character

First grade students have learned that a character is anyone in a story, and that the main character is the most important character.  We have discussed character traits as describing what someone is like, how they act, or how they look.  We are working to identify how characters may grow and change in a story.

Setting

First graders have learned that the setting is the time and place a story takes place.  We have discussed how a setting  establishes the mood or feeling of a story.

Plot

First grade students have learned that the plot is what happens in a story.   We have discovered that characters encounter conflicts or problems in a story, and  how the events of a story often lead up to an exciting event called the climax.  We have found that often, at the end of the story, characters find solutions to their problems.

Fairy Tales

First grade students have learned that fairy tales have common elements, which does not need to include fairies.  Fairy tales typically occur in the past or long ago.  They often include elements of fantasy or make-believe.  They have good characters, bad characters, and evil characters.  Fairy tales may have elements of magic.  They include objects, people, or events occurring in threes.   Fairy tales usually have a problem that needs to be solved and a happy ending based on the solution to the problem.  Finally, fairy tales typcially teach a lesson or have a moral.