Listening to stories: characters, setting, and events (kindergarten) · lesson

Who, what, and where

💡 Know who is in the story, what they do, and where.

The characters are the people or animals in the story.

The setting is where the story takes place.

🧠 How to think about it

Max looks under the bed. Then he looks in the yard. Where does he look first? Under the bed.

🏡 Try it at home

After a book, ask: who was in it? Where did it happen?

💡 A story has a start, a middle, and an end.

At the start, we meet the characters and the problem.

At the end, the problem gets fixed.

🧠 How to think about it

Ask: what happened first? What happened next? How did it end?

🏡 Try it at home

Tell about your day in three parts: first, next, last.

💡 A poem has short lines, a beat, and often rhymes.

A story tells what happens to characters.

A poem plays with sounds. Words like tree and me rhyme.

🧠 How to think about it

Are the lines short? Do words rhyme at the end? Then it is a poem.

🏡 Try it at home

Say a nursery rhyme. Clap the beat. Find the rhyming words.

💡 The author writes the words. The illustrator draws the pictures.

Look at the front of a book. It shows who made it.

Words by tells who wrote it. Pictures by tells who drew it.

🧠 How to think about it

Pictures by Lin. So Lin drew the pictures.

🏡 Try it at home

Look at the cover of a book. Read the names. Who wrote it? Who drew it?

💡 Pictures show what is happening in that part of the story.

Look at what is in the picture.

Then think: which part of the story is this?

🧠 How to think about it

The picture shows a big flower. The seed grows into a flower at the end. So it goes with the end.

🏡 Try it at home

Cover the words on a page. Ask your child to tell the story from the picture.