Literary Elements Teaching Resources
Are ou teaching literary elements and looking for worksheets and activities to get students excited about tone, narration, plot and a host of other elements to writing a great story? How do you engage elementary students on the concept of character traits and make plot development as exciting as recess?
The ELA teachers on the Teach Starter team have done just that with a collection of printable worksheets and digital activities built around this core reading standard. Aligned with both TEKS and the Common Core English curriculum, each literary elements activity in the collection has undergone a careful review by a member of our teacher team to ensure it's ready for your lesson plans and your students.
Explore our teacher team's guide to learn more about the various literary elements and how to bring them to life in your classroom!
Is this your first year teaching this sector of ELA? Or the first year in a while? Our teacher team has put together a quick refresher to get you ready to rock and roll in the classroom, including a way to explain what literary elements are to students.
What Are Literary Elements? A Kid-Friendly Definition
First thing's first: Let's talk about the definition.
Literary elements are the basic components of writing that the author uses to share the story with the reader. Without them, the narrative falls apart!
They are sometimes referred to as narrative elements. No matter what you call them, these elements give a piece of writing structure and help the author convey information to the reader.
On the reading side, literary elements are also key to breaking down a story to understand better what the author is trying to say.
What Are Examples of Literary Elements? 8 Examples That Can Help Your Students
There are eight main examples of literary elements that students will encounter in narrative texts:
1. Setting
This element is crucial for developing a story as it provides the time in which the story takes place as well as where it takes place. Setting helps ground the story.
2. Plot
The plot is the way a story unfolds. It's essentially a pattern for the text.
3. Conflict
Conflict helps move a plot forward as it offers the reader a climax to move toward as they read.
4. Characterization
This element of writing covers the way characters are developed within a story.
5. Point of View
Also called narration, this literary element is the perspective from which a story is told, such as first person or third person.
6. Tone
The tone of a story can be boiled down to the author's attitude about the subject of the story.
7. Genre
Genre covers the type of story written, such as realistic fiction, science fiction or even magical realism.
8. Figurative Language
Similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia are just some examples of the figurative language students encounter in a text.
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Story Elements: Sequencing Jack Be Nimble
Teach your students the art of sequencing with an instructional slide deck surrounding the Jack Be Nimble nursery rhyme.
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Little Miss Muffet - Story Elements Worksheet Pack
Identify characters, setting, and parts of a story with kindergarten reading worksheets featuring the Little Miss Muffet nursery rhyme.
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Little Miss Muffet - Sequencing Cards
Read and retell the story within the tale of Little Miss Muffet with a set of retelling pocket chart cards.
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Jack Be Nimble - Story Element Worksheets
Demonstrate learning about the parts of a story with a printable set of Jack be Nimble Story Element worksheets.
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Jack Be Nimble - Pocket Chart Sequencing Cards
Read and retell the story of Jack Be Nimble with a set of retell pocket chart cards.
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Little Miss Muffet - Sequencing Slide Deck
Engage young readers in texts and learn about setting with an instructional slide deck featuring the Little Miss Muffet rhyme.
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Parts of a Story - Story Elements Workbook
Explore the different elements of a narrative story with this student mini workbook.
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Hey Diddle Diddle Worksheets
Identify characters, setting, and parts of a story with kindergarten reading worksheets featuring the “Hey, Diddle, Diddle” nursery rhyme.
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Hey Diddle Diddle - Story Elements Slide Deck
Engage young readers in texts and learn about setting with an instructional slide deck featuring the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme.
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Humpty Dumpty Teaching Slides - All About Characters
Engage young readers in texts and learn about characters with an instructional slide deck featuring the Humpty Dumpty rhyme.
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Hickory Dickory Dock - Pocket Chart Retell Cards
Read and retell the story found within the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock with a set of retell pocket chart cards.
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Hickory Dickory Dock - Story Elements Slide Deck
Engage young readers in texts and discover parts of a story with an interactive version of Hickory Dickory Dock.
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Christmas Finger Puppets - Read and Retell Christmas Craft for Kindergarten
A cute set of Christmas finger puppets for students to make and enjoy!
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Problem and Solution Interactive Clip Cards
Practice identifying problems and solutions with an interactive clip card activity.
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Character Analysis Task Cards
Use these task cards to practice analyzing characters within any fictional text.
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Elements of Plot Teaching Presentation
Teach them to your students with a Plot Elements Teaching presentation.
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Character Development Board Game
Practice character development by choosing your own adventure in this role-playing board game.
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Halloween Reading Comprehension Passage and Task Cards - The Curious Crusader
Practice reading comprehension skills with an exciting Halloween reading comprehension activity for 4th graders!
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Novel Study - How Thinking Changes Worksheet
Examine how events in a novel can change the main character's thinking with this one-page worksheet.
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Character Analysis: New Year's Activity
Practice inferring how a character would ring in the new year with this 7-activity booklet.
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Novel Study - Create a New Cover Worksheet
Create a new book cover for a shared class or independent novel.
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Story Elements - Worksheet
Practice identifying characters, settings, problems and solutions in fictional texts with this set of worksheets.
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Novel Study – Draw a Scene Worksheet
Explore important scenes from a class novel through a drawing activity.
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Literary Element Task Cards (Primary Grades)
A set of 12 task cards for primary students to use after reading a picture book.
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Literary Element Task Cards - Upper Elementary
Explore the wonders of children's literature with this set of 14 literature study task cards for upper elementary students.
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Character Development - Worksheet
Describe how characters in a story develop in response to major events and challenges with this 3-page character development worksheet.
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Novel Study – Points of View Worksheet
Analyze the points of view of opposing characters in a literary text with this set of three worksheets.
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Novel Study – Character Map Worksheet
Explore and analyze the characters in your class novel with this set of three worksheets.
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Setting-Plot Relationship Worksheet
A worksheet that explores the connections between setting and plot.
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Plot Elements Worksheet - "The Gift of Magi"
Using the companion text “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, students will diagram the narrative structure of the story on the included plot elements worksheet.
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Reading Response Template – Character Report
Analyze a character in a piece of text with this one-page reading response template.
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Crabbing at Night – Sequencing Worksheet
Identify the story beginning, series of events and ending with this narrative text sequencing activity.