Story Writing for class 5 English

Concept : Retelling a Story with Hints

Retelling is part of reading and writing skills that includes determining the major parts of a story in order, characters, problem, setting & solution. Retelling a story with the aid of oral prompts develops sequencing, thinking, vocabulary, and visualisation skills in a student.

In this learning concept, students will learn:

• What is story retelling?
• Features of story retelling.
• Story Retelling Prompts with examples.

All the learning concepts covered for Class 5 English have illustrations, mind maps, and examples. Students can check their understanding by solving the two printable PDF story writing with hints worksheets. The solutions to these exercises are also available in PDF format.

Definition:

Features of a Story Retelling

The following parameters must be kept in mind while retelling a story. They are:

1. Setting : The setting comprises of the background in which the story is set. It describes ‘where’ and ‘when’ the story takes place. The location, the time, the weather and social conditions are all parts of the setting of a story. Time here means whether the story is related to the present or past.
2. Major Characters: The thing that comes immediately after setting is the characters. The names of the characters are important. It is important to determine the main characters in a story.
3. Order of Important Events: The events in the story are those happenings that are most significant with respect to the theme of the story. It can be an incident, change of a place, death of someone, getting a lot of money, trusting someone, falling from a place, height etc. Usually, it is seen that such happenings affect the character and impact the course of action followed by him.
4. Define Features of the Characters: There should be a minimum description of the physical appearance of the characters like how they appear, what they are, how they speak and even any character trait can be mentioned too. It is important to consider if there’s anything that one can relate with the characters.
5. Problem: The problem is an area of the story that shows a difficulty faced by the characters that is solved at the end. The solution may sometimes be positive or negative but usually draws an end to the problem. It often deals with the question ‘what’, i.e., what happened that changed the course of the story. Since it is one of the most significant parts of the story describing it properly is essential.
6. Solution: The story mostly ends with a solution. Most happy ending stories make sure that their protagonist wins at the end. However, there are many stories where the protagonist is made to suffer due to either his own action or unknown reason. The solution can be a cure, a reunion of friends, a victory over an opponent or even a permanent loss.

Story Retelling Prompts

Let us have a look at the prompts for story retelling. They are:

1. What was the setting(s)?
2. How did the story start?
3. What happened in the beginning?
4. On whom was the story all about?
5. When did the story take place?
6. What happened next? Then what happened?
7. What happened to the main character so far?
8. What did the main character do next?
9. What was the problem the character faced?
10. What did the character do to resolve the problem?
11. How did the main character resolve the problem?
12. How did the story finally come to an end?

Common Mistakes

1. To retell a story correctly, you first need to know it. To understand what the story is all about and then retell it.
2. Do not add any new information to the original story. While retelling a story, ensure you do not add anything that was not mentioned in the actual story.
3. Do not forget to determine the basic theme, important characters, problem, events and conclusion of the story. Since the retelling of a story will be based on these aspects, you must be very clear about them.
4. Identify the unique part of the story, as that will help you to retell it properly.

Concept : Main Idea and Supporting Idea of a Story

Every writing piece must have both a main idea and supporting idea. In this chapter students of class 5 will learn to identify the main idea and supporting details of a story with examples.

In this learning concept, students will learn:

• Main idea definition with examples.
• Supporting details with examples.
• Finding the main idea and supporting details in a story.
• How to write the main idea in a story?
• How to write supporting details with examples.

All the learning concepts covered for Class 5 English have illustrations, mind maps, and examples. Students can check their understanding by solving the two printable PDF worksheets. The solutions to these exercises are also available in PDF format.

What is Main Idea in a Story?

• The main idea is the central concept of a story that the author wants to communicate to its readers. Finding the main idea is sometimes a challenge depending upon the plot of the story.
  
• As the subject is to a sentence, the main idea is to a story. We are aware of the fact that even a subject sometimes remains disguised or always it may not be something to begin with. The same applies with the main idea in a story.
• Often the key details taken together point at the main idea.

What are the Supporting Details of a Story?

• The key details of a story helps the reader what the main message is. Key details consists of important pieces of information that support the main idea of a story.
• While listening to a story, pay attention to the details regarding the character’s dialogue and action. These are the details the author uses to add more information about the main idea.

How to Integrate the Main Idea in a Story?

To develop the main idea of a story a lot of thought is required before it can become a full-fledged story. So how do you get to the point where you have a main idea to write an entire story?

1. It is important to identify the central idea of the story. It gives you a surety that your idea is a compact one and an entire story can be made out of it.
2. Discern your general aim for writing the story. Put your precise purpose statement along with key details of the story. Bring it all together by combining a clear concise main idea. Read for how to add the key details to a story.

How to Integrate the Key Details in a Story?

1. Support the main idea with details by giving information like telling what, how, when, why, where, how many, or how much about the character.
   • What –Find the topic or theme of the story.
   • When – Identify the specific time period.
   • Where – Determine setting or specific place.
   • Why – Identify a reason for what happens in the story.
2. Stories must have details that include the five senses.
   • To create key details, you must have keen observation skills and use your five senses to describe the situation or story. Include details of sound, sight, touch, taste and smell can help to craft a story filled with vital details.
   • For example, when describing a character, you can write about his looks, how he talks to others, how he laughs etc. Incorporate any of the five senses into your story which will add to the descriptive details.
3. Use metaphor or similes to compare elements of your story to something unrelated, but at the same time evoke connections for the reader.

Examples:

Read the story and write a paragraph using the chart given below:

The Selfish Giant

There once lived a giant who had a large lovely garden around his house, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit.
Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden.
The Giant had left his house to meet a friend, an ogre. He stayed with his friend for seven years. He decided to return home back to his beautiful garden. When he arrived, he saw the children playing in the garden.
“What are you doing here?” he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.
“My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant; “any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.” So he built a high wall all around it, and put up a notice-board.

From that day onwards, he never stopped children from playing in his garden.

Main Idea:
The Giant didn’t want children to play in his garden.
Key details 1:
The Giant said the statement, “My own garden is my own garden, any
one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but
myself.

Key details 2:
The Giant also hung the poster “Trespassers will be prosecuted” to warn anyone who came to his garden.

Common Mistakes

1. Do not presume the main idea by just reading first few lines or paragraphs. Do not identify the main idea on the first impression that you get. You must read the story thoroughly.
2. When it comes to identifying the main idea there’s more to it than what meets the eye. It is vital to explore the text and examine the supporting details use your critical thinking skills to determine the main idea.
3. Select details for your story that are important to the main idea. Especially while writing a short story, each detail must contribute to the complete story.
4. Do not key details and main idea : Main idea is what the story is mostly about. Key or supporting details explains facts, examples that help to describe the main idea.

Concept : Story Writing with Given Outline

The students will learn to develop story writing with given outline. They will also study some outline story writing examples of story writing with images for better understanding

In this learning concept, the students will learn:

• To write stories with the given outlines.
• To avoid certain common mistake while story writing with outline.

Every concept is taught to class 5 English students with the help of examples, illustrations, and concept maps. Once you go through a concept, assess your learning by solving the printable outline story writing worksheet given at the end of the page.

Download the worksheets and check your answers with the worksheet solutions for the concept Story Writing with Outline provided in PDF format.

Definition:

A story outline is a pre-writing tool used to organize your story. It's a way to visually see the arc of your story and the major points you need to hit, so you can create a comprehensive plan for writing your book.

How to Develop a Story with an Outline?

Look at the outline of a story given below.

First day in school – Ravi – fourth grade in school – got ready – nervous – reached 10 mins before – class was full – stand up and pray – teacher – first chapter of English – ten minutes break – played badminton – continued class – lunch break in 12.30 – Dosa – class till 2.30 – school got over - good day.

The First Day

Today is the first day of Ravi’s fourth grade in his school. He woke up early in the morning and got ready. He was slightly nervous as it was the first day of the new grade. He reached school 10 minutes before time. He could see the class was already full of students. After sometime the teacher came and asked everyone to stand up and pray. Then, she started to teach the first chapter of the English textbook. After the class got over, the students got a ten-minute break. He went to the playground and played badminton with his classmates for some time. After that, they continued to have classes until they had their lunch break at 12:30 pm. Ravi ate dosa prepared by his mother for lunch. After the lunch break, the students had two more classes till 2:30. Finally, at 2:30 pm everybody left for home. It was a good day indeed.

Give the title to the story. Make sure the title is relatable to the story.

Examples:

The First Day
First, take a look at the characters given in the outline. They can be people, animals, or objects.

Examples:

Ravi, students, classmates, badminton.
Next, see the information given in the outline and make them into complete sentences to form the story.

Examples:

Outline: First day in school – Ravi – fourth grade in school
Complete sentence Today, it is the first day of Ravi in fourth grade in his school.

1. Follow the sequence as given in the story. Make sure to write the story in the same sequence. The Beginning, middle and end of the story should be same in the story.

Common Mistakes

Do not add any such detail which is not relevant to the outline given. In such case, the additional information will take the story in a different path.

Examples:

Ram – studying in grade 2 – went to the field – cricket with friends - ball went high in the sky – broke a window pane – uncle got angry – scolded – gave them the ball.