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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 21

Story Elements

Characters, settings and plots

What your child practices

Naming the characters, setting, problem and solution of a story, describing how characters feel and what they are like, and finding a story's lesson.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 3R3; 3R5 · characters, settings and plots

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Characters are who the story is about. The setting is where and when it happens.
  2. The problem is what goes wrong. The solution is how it gets fixed.
  3. Clues about what characters say and do tell you how they feel.

Example: A rabbit keeps eating Lena’s lettuce, so Lena and her mom build a fence. What is the solution? The problem is the rabbit eating the lettuce. The fix is what stops it. Answer: Lena and her mom put a fence around the lettuce.

Story Elements in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 2 of 21 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Read and Think and before Word Jobs.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the setting of this story?

    Priya and her dad baked lemon muffins for the school bake sale.

    When they got to the gym, Priya saw that another family had brought lemon muffins too.

    Priya frowned. “Now nobody will buy ours,” she said.

    Then Priya had an idea. She asked the other family to share one big table with a sign that said “Lemon Muffin Corner.”

    By noon, every muffin was gone!

    • At the library after school
    • At a bake sale in the school gym
    • At a farm in the country

  2. Question 2

    How is the problem solved?

    Priya and her dad baked lemon muffins for the school bake sale.

    When they got to the gym, Priya saw that another family had brought lemon muffins too.

    Priya frowned. “Now nobody will buy ours,” she said.

    Then Priya had an idea. She asked the other family to share one big table with a sign that said “Lemon Muffin Corner.”

    By noon, every muffin was gone!

    • The two families shared a table and a sign.
    • Priya's dad baked a cake instead.
    • Priya took her muffins back home.

  3. Question 3

    How did Priya feel when she saw the other lemon muffins?

    Priya and her dad baked lemon muffins for the school bake sale.

    When they got to the gym, Priya saw that another family had brought lemon muffins too.

    Priya frowned. “Now nobody will buy ours,” she said.

    Then Priya had an idea. She asked the other family to share one big table with a sign that said “Lemon Muffin Corner.”

    By noon, every muffin was gone!

    • Sleepy
    • Worried
    • Excited

  4. Question 4

    When does this story happen?

    On Friday morning, Kenji had to return a library book about dinosaurs.

    But the book was missing! He searched his backpack, his desk and under his bed.

    Then Kenji remembered reading in the car after soccer practice.

    He checked the car and found the book under a seat.

    Kenji got to school just in time to return it.

    • On a Friday morning
    • On a Sunday night
    • On a summer afternoon

  5. Question 5

    How did Kenji most likely feel when the book was missing?

    On Friday morning, Kenji had to return a library book about dinosaurs.

    But the book was missing! He searched his backpack, his desk and under his bed.

    Then Kenji remembered reading in the car after soccer practice.

    He checked the car and found the book under a seat.

    Kenji got to school just in time to return it.

    • Worried
    • Proud
    • Sleepy

  6. Question 6

    What is the problem in this story?

    On Friday morning, Kenji had to return a library book about dinosaurs.

    But the book was missing! He searched his backpack, his desk and under his bed.

    Then Kenji remembered reading in the car after soccer practice.

    He checked the car and found the book under a seat.

    Kenji got to school just in time to return it.

    • Kenji could not find his library book.
    • Kenji did not like dinosaurs.
    • The library was closed.

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