Read, Retell, and Learn Story Elements with Hickory Dickory Dock!

Story elements are critical for early literacy instruction. From the time students enter school until the day they graduate high school, they will study the parts of a story. 

If you’re getting ready to teach your early years students about story basics such as character, setting and sequencing, you’re in the right place! We’ve created a handy interactive set of teaching slides to help your little learners identify narrative features in the classic nursery rhyme, Hickory Dickory Dock.

We’ve included multiple interactive and visual guides to help your learners master the art of identifying narrative features. The characteristics of a story included in this teaching presentation are:

• characters
• setting
• sequenced events.

Each slide in the presentation features a child-friendly explanation of these elements, with familiar visuals to help them connect the key terms with the concepts.  Students will have the opportunity to:

• identify examples and non-examples of characters
• identify examples and non-examples of settings
• sequence events in a series to demonstrate plot.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

In addition to whole group instruction, use this activity to enhance learning through guided reading groups or independent review after teaching the concepts.

Assuming you have a mixture of above- and below-level learners, we have a few suggestions for keeping students on track with these concepts.

🆘 Support Struggling Students

• Support less-confident students with the activity by completing it in a targeted small-group setting with adult support.
• Provide students with a display poster or reference guide while completing the activity.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

• Extend learning time by having students use the narrative features from the presentation to create and write an original story of their own.
• Provide supplementary materials to support and extend students’ learning in this area.

Choose the File Format That Best Suits You!

Use the dropdown arrow next to the Download button to select between the Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint version of this resource.

Since this activity has been designed with young learners in mind, we recommend completing it together on a screen. This slideshow will begin in Presentation mode, and visual reminders are embedded to signal points at which you should switch to Edit mode for student interactions.

This resource was created by Samantha Rose, a Teach Starter collaborator.