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Map A Story

Create a road map to retell a story. Where does the story begin? Where does it go in the middle? Where does it end? Teams work together using Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons to create a story path that continues from one dry-erase board to the next.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    Retelling stories is a great way to discover how well children comprehend what they read. Retellings can include details about the characters, setting, problems, and solutions. Well-written plots have a developed beginning, middle, and end.

  • Step 2

    Read stories with strong plot lines, such as Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan or Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. Share stories as a read aloud or provide a library of choices for children.

  • Step 3

    Group children in teams of 3 or 4 to create a road map that retells the story they have read. Use Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons to model how to draw a path that connects across 3 or 4 individual dry-erase boards. Along the path each team member can draw pictures and write words to tell the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Students collaborate in determining which parts will be shown on each board. Encourage them to share ideas about which details to include on which board and how they will be shown. Groups of 4 can use the fourth board to illustrate the message or lesson of the story.

  • Step 4

    Student groups arrange the boards in order to retell the story. Assess students’ abilities to describe details about characters, setting, problems, and solutions in the correct order. Use this information to plan future story mapping lessons.

Standards

LA: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

LA: Describe characters, settings, or major events in a story, using key details.

LA: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

LA: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

VA: Students will initiate making works of art and design by experimenting, imagining and identifying content.

Adaptations

Teachers may wish to introduce story mapping by creating a large story map with Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons on a large dry-erase board. Students can add illustrations and details in words along the path.

Invite teams of children to create their own stories or fairy tales, mapping the stories on their dry-erase boards. After developing their stories, children can present them to their classmates, who in turn can retell them using dry-erase crayons to make new story maps.

Read aloud a Beverly Cleary chapter book. Allow students to create story maps of each chapter as you read using individual dry-erase boards and dry-erase crayons.