5 Elements of a Short Story Digital Activity

Use this collection of five short stories, each featuring a clear problem and solution with a distinct beginning, middle, and end, to help students deepen their understanding of a typical narrative structure. Each story has a drag and drop element where students are prompted to highlight the following elements:

• Characters
• Setting
• Beginning
• Middle 
• End

Once they have identified these they are then asked to drag images to highlight the following:

• Beginning of story including the characters and setting.
• Middle of the story where a problem is highlighted.
• End of a story where there is a solution to the problem. 

These slides help students to easily sequence this information in each of the short stories.

Story Elements Lesson Planning

Enhance your story elements lesson with this versatile resource! Whether used as an independent task, a small group activity, or a whole-class exercise, these carefully crafted short stories are designed to clarify, not confuse. Assess your students’ understanding of narrative elements with engaging examples that make learning seamless and effective.

Download and Explore the 5 Elements of a Short Story Today!

Use the dropdown menu to explore the 5 elements of short stories with your students in a digital way. Make sure to use this resource in edit mode to ensure the digital interactive elements of the drag and drop function work.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Story Elements Resources for the Classroom

Looking for more resources to use in the classroom when planning your story elements lessons? We have you covered…

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Story Structure Sentence Strips

Explore sentences that form the beginning, middle and end of 5 short stories with this sorting activity for younger year levels.

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Story Bag Surprise - Story Elements Digital Activity

Introduce and explore different story elements with this story bag surprise digital activity for the whole class to enjoy.

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Story Elements Four Corners

Engage your students in exploring key story elements with this Four Corners activity!