A story is a set of sentences about one thing that happen in order. Every story has three parts: a beginning, a middle and an end.
| Part | What it tells |
|---|---|
| Beginning | who the story is about, and where |
| Middle | what happens |
| End | how it works out |
Key idea
A story has a beginning (who and where), a middle (what happens) and an end (how it works out).
Why it works
Readers need to meet the characters before things happen to them, and they want to know how it all turns out. Without an end, a story just stops, and the reader is left hanging.
Worked example: Which part?
“It was still standing when they went home.”
- It does not tell who or where, so it is not the beginning.
- It tells how things worked out for the sandcastle.
- So it is the end.
Answer: The end.
Common mistake
Stopping in the middle (“…and then I woke up.”) without an ending. Ask: how did it all work out? Write that sentence last.
For the grown-up. When you finish a read-aloud, ask: “How did it start? What happened? How did it end?” Children who can retell a story in three parts are ready to write one.