Teaching Story Elements with Two Bad Ants

Last week I introduced story elements to my second graders (characters, setting, problem, solution) as well as had them break down stories into beginning (setting and characters), middle (problem) and end (solution). They created these cute ants out of construction paper, paint, sponges, googly eyes and pipe cleaner to help them with their sequencing and story elements. It helps that we're also doing an insect unit right now, so they had fun saying "The beginning goes on the head!", "The middle goes on the thorax!" and "The end goes on the abdomen!". They really liked it and I'm hopeful that it will be a good future reference for the visual/spatial learners.