Teaching Story Structure

Book reports are something we think of as homework for our kids or as something they "should learn in school" but they also teach children story structure.  Here are some tips and ideas for helping your child understand story structure in order to better his or her comprehension.


I wanted to share with you a great link to all sorts of book report templates.  These templates can be used as they are with older children that can write or you can use them as a guide when discuss the story elements with your child.

• Good books have a good story structure, a skeleton of a story that consists of at least a setting, characters, main events, problem/conflict, and a conculsion/resolution.
• Teaching story structure while reading helps children with their writing.
• Use online resources to help your child understand story structure.
• "Book reports" can also be done in the form of illustrations.
• Read, Write, Think has great tips for teachers that can be applied at home using fairy tales.

Simply discuss the important elements in a story while reading with your child will help to increase story structure knowledge and comprehension.