Fun Ways To Teach Setting Of A Story To Your Students
Teaching about setting to first graders can be really fun. Story elements is one of my favorite units to teach. I love how you get to really dive deep into different books and there’s so many picture books that lend well to teaching story elements.
I usually teach each story element exclusively for a week. Typically, I teach setting first, then character, and then problem and solution. I start with setting because students tend to grasp and remember what setting is quickly. While teaching story elements, I read a lot of mentor texts. I read at least one a day during reader’s workshop, if not more.
Setting Scrapbook
On the first day of studying setting, each student receives a “My Setting Scrapbook Journal” to keep in their individual book tubs. We complete a page from the scrapbook journal the first day or two. After completing together on a book we have read, students complete them on their own on books we have read in class and also from their individual books they are reading during independent reading time.
Creepy Carrots Activity
Another fun activity we do goes along with one of my favorite books, Creepy Carrots. On one of the days, I’ll read Creepy Carrots and then we make this little craftivity. Students draw the where and when of the book. It also makes a great bulletin board display, which is an added bonus.
Travel The Room Brochure
We also play a game called “Travel The Room” during the week, usually on the third or fourth day. I hang pictures of various setting around the room and students have a travel brochure to fill in of the different places they “traveled” to around the room. They pretend they are taking pictures of their travel buddy at each stop along the way. It is precious. At the end, we talk about their favorite place they traveled to, which cracks me up because most of the places are normal places we go pretty frequently- like a parking lot or school.
No Prep Printables
I use a variety of different printables as well to expose them to different texts to determine the setting. I still use picture books every day, but these printables help them determine the setting without a lot of picture clues. Instead, they have to rely on the details from the text to help them determine the setting. I will have them close their eyes while I read it to practice “seeing” the setting in their mind. This also helps their visualizing skills.
All of these activities can be found in my All About Setting resource here.
