This project involves elementary school students in grades 2-6 creating their own stories by developing the core story elements. Students will first identify characters, setting, events, conflicts and resolution from examples. They will then create their own characters and settings before writing about events and resolving conflicts in their stories. Finally, students will organize their stories and share them with classmates. The depth of writing will depend on grade level.

1. Project-Based Learning
Jordon Roussos

2. Project Based Learning

3. Story Elements Project
This project is intended for elementary age students
from grades 2-6. The variance in the grades will be
accounted for by the depth in which the students cover
story elements and the length of their writing.
In this project, students will produce their own
elements of a story (characters, setting, events/conflict,
resolution).
At the conclusion of the project students will put
together their own story.

4. Story Elements Project
cont.
Aspects students will first be able to
identify:
Characters: person (or people) that are
in the story
Setting: where and when the story is
taking place
Events: what happens throughout the
story
Conflict: problems that the characters
encounter
Resolution: how the conflict ends

5. Character Development
Upon being
introduced to the
concept of story
elements, students
will be asked to
identify these aspects
while reading various
works.
After this skill is
grasped, students will
begin developing
their own characters
and create
backstories for these
characters. Length of
the writings will
depend on the grade
level of the students.

6. Establishing a Setting
Once Characters have
been developed, the
students will repeat the
same process with the
concept of a story’s
setting.
The students will
brainstorm where they
would like their story to
take place and ,with that,
start to develop the
events within the story.

7. The Events/Conflicts
This part of the project will be
the most time consuming
Students will essentially be
writing the bulk of their story in
this section
During this process, have the
students be conscious of how
their charcaters may be changing
due to what is taking place
Also introduce the main
problems in the story

8. Resolution and Ending
In this section the students will write about how they
want the problems to get resolved as well as how they
want their story to end.
To repeat an earlier point, the depth of the content
being discussed will vary depending on the grade level
of the participating students.
This section would be a good place to introduce such
concepts as plot twists and surprise endings.

9. Transitions
At this point the story is all but written
In order to complete the story, the students must be taught
about transitions in order to blend all the pieces together.
Also, the teacher may decide to allow their students to
simply write a series of small entries instead of a larger book.
This could extend the timeline for the entire project and
leave room for more development within the students’
writing.
This is the step where the stories are organized, proofread,
edited, and proofread again for the last time.

10. Book Fair
After the students books/short
stories/portfolios are finished and
have a clear system of organization,
the students will then write a short
biographgy on themselves to include
in their work.
At the conclusion of this project, the
students will have the opportunity to
share their work with the rest of the
class as well as read their peers’
stories.
This step will allow the students to
feel a sense of accomplishment and
pride in their work.

11. References
Bright Hub Inc. (2011, April 15). Teaching story elements to elementary
school children. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from Bright Hub
Education, http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-elementary-
school/114072-ideas-for-teaching-story-elements-to-young-students/
Buck Institute of Education. (2016). Project based learning. Retrieved
October 14, 2016, from http://www.bie.org/about/what_pbl
Lesson plan #1737. Elements of a story. (2015). Retrieved October 14,
2016, from Teachers Net, http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1737.html