Story Map Template

The parts of a story, one box each

Title, setting, characters, problem, solution, and a larger area for the events between. Every box has ruled lines inside it. A Theme row can be added for readers ready to think about what a story is about rather than what happens in it.

Problem and solution are the two that matter

Setting and characters can be filled in by anybody who read the first chapter. Problem and solution require having understood the shape of the whole thing.

They are also the boxes children get wrong in a revealing way. A child who writes "the problem is that they went to the woods" has described an event rather than a problem; a child who writes "the problem is that she was lonely" has identified what the story is actually driven by. The difference between those two answers is the difference between following a plot and understanding a story, and no other box on the sheet exposes it.

Ask what the character wanted and what stopped them. Nearly every story answers both, and a problem stated that way is almost always the right one.

The events box is not a retelling

The commonest failure is filling it with the plot from page one until the space runs out.

Three to five events, chosen because they changed something. The rule that works: an event belongs on the map if the story would be different without it. That turns the box from transcription into selection, which is the skill you wanted.

The Theme row

Off by default, and rightly so — theme is genuinely hard and asking a seven-year-old for it produces "it was about a dog".

Turn it on from about age nine, and give a prompt rather than the bare word. "What does this story say about friendship?" gets an answer; "Theme" gets a shrug. The distinction to teach is that the subject is what the story contains and the theme is what it claims — a story can be about a war and have a theme of forgiveness.

Where it fits

After reading, as comprehension. Before writing, as planning — the same six boxes work just as well filled in for a story that does not exist yet, and a child who has decided on their problem and solution before starting is far less likely to abandon the piece halfway.

It also works read aloud with a class on a shared text, filled in together on the board once so everyone has seen what a good problem box looks like.

What you can change

A title and the Theme row on or off. Paper size A4 or US Letter.

Leave the title blank and print a stack; the sheet is the same whatever the book.

For a deeper look at one character rather than the whole story, the character profile takes the traits, motivation and a supporting quotation.