Holiday Giving Opportunity - Moriah House

This week, students will be analyzing plot and theme through the use of the African folktale, Fly Eagle Fly. When reading with your child at home, you can help him or her to identify fundamental story elements such as character, setting, and plot, in order to increase and strengthen comprehension. Simply put, the plot is what happens in a story, or all the events that the author arranges to tell a story. In almost every story, the main character or characters face a conflict, or problem, and try to find a solution, or an answer.

Review with your child that a character is anyone in a story. The main characters are the most important characters in the story. The setting is the time and place of a story. Settings can change throughout a story. All the events that happen in a story make up the plot. Choose a book or story together, and identify the characters and setting. Then discuss what happens in the plot.

A conflict is the overarching problem the characters face in a story. In some stories, characters struggle against nature. For example, in one story, a protagonist might try to climb the highest mountain or cross the hottest desert. Characters can also struggle against machines. For example, they might battle a malfunctioning computer or try to fix a car. Some characters struggle against other characters, as in classic comic books where heroes and anti-heroes battle. Other conflicts might arise between a character and society, such as when a character battles poverty or racism. Some conflicts, however, are fought within the characters on an emotional level. Internal conflicts can include a character who tries to overcome a fear or cope with a loss of a pet or family member. Conflicts can involve emotions, loyalties, desires, or the conscience. Encourage your child to think about stories, characters, and the conflicts they encounter. You may also want to discuss conflicts your child has struggled with, or overcome in his or her own life.

The solution is an answer to a problem or how the conflict is solved. Throughout a story, characters might find different solutions to a problem, successfully or unsuccessfully. Suspense happens when the reader is not sure what will happen next. It is important for your child to understand that stories may not end happily, and that not all problems can be solved. Sometimes at the conclusion of stories, new problems arise. You may wish to identify stories and books that end this way as well. A book in a series such as Harry Potter, for instance, might end with a problem that will then lead into the next book.

Stories and plot lines may differ, but the classic parts of a story include the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The introduction presents the characters and the setting, and the rising action brings in the conflict, which then escalates into the climax, or the point in the story where the conflict appears to be at the highest point. The falling action involves the characters getting closer to solving the conflict and managing the effects from the climax, and the resolution is when the conflict is solved. While students are not responsible for knowing all of these story elements in the 3rd grade, they should understand that throughout a story, characters can struggle with conflicts, and as a result, grow and change or stay the same. Often, characters learn something new about themselves, or about others.

Stories can sometimes be confusing, especially when there are many characters, plot lines, and conflicts. Remember, good readers think, take notes, and ask questions while they read. Every child can find his or her own way of reading and understanding, so encourage your child to find his or her own strategies of analyzing story elements when reading.