Year 1 'Wild': reading and writing worksheet

“Characters, settings and plot” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 1 English unit “'Wild': reading and writing”, for children aged 5 to 6, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 29 to 31 of the year, 8 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Characters, settings and plot

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 1 · English · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can tell who the character is, where the story happens and what happens.

A Look back3 min

1.
Put these story events in order. Write 1, 2 or 3 in each box.
1. The seed grows
2. The seed is planted
3. The flower opens
2.
Join each feeling to the right weather.
HappyCross
StormySunny
3.
Which sentence joins two ideas with the word and? Circle one.
The cat sat and the dog ran.The cat sat the dog ran.

B Watch me, then you4 min

Mia lives on a boat with her dad. One day she walks along the beach and finds a shell. She takes it home.

A small blue boat on a calm sea next to a sandy beach with a bucket and spade

Watch me

Mia is the main character. She is the one the story follows.

The boat and the beach are the settings. They are where it happens.

The plot is what happens: Mia finds a shell and takes it home.

Now you

1.
Ali rides his bike to the park. Circle the setting.
Alithe parka bike

C Your turn8 min

Read each short story. Then answer.

A quiet park with a tall tree, a wooden bench and a brown dog on the grass

1.
Ali walks his dog in the park. Write each card under Character or Setting.
Alithe dogthe parkthe sea
Character Setting
2.
Ali plays in the park with his dog. Circle the setting.
Alithe parkhis dog
3.
Put these story events in order. Write 1, 2 or 3 in each box.
1. Ali takes the kite home
2. Ali finds a kite
3. Ali flies the kite
4.
Make up a character. Write one sentence about them.

Say it out loud: Who is the character? Where is the setting?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A calm lake with reeds at the edge and a wooden jetty stretching out over the water

Lou says: “The lake is the main character, because it is in the picture.”

1.
In the story, Ali walks to the lake. Who is the main character? Circle one.
Alithe lake

E Think deeper4 min

A snowy hill with a red sledge at the top and a few pine trees at the bottom

1.
Make up a short story with one character, one place and two events. Tell it to your grown-up. Write one sentence of it.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Characters, settings and plot · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 1 The seed is planted · 2 The seed grows · 3 The flower opens your child put the flower first. Ask: what has to happen before a flower can open?

2. Happy → Sunny; Cross → Stormy

3. The cat sat and the dog ran. your child chose the sentence with no and. Ask: which one has two ideas joined together?

B

1. the park

C

1. Setting: the park, the sea · Character: Ali, the dog your child put a place in the character column. Ask: is it a who, or a where?

2. the park

3. 1 Ali finds a kite · 2 Ali flies the kite · 3 Ali takes the kite home your child put the end first. Ask: what happens first, before Ali can fly the kite?

4. Look for: A sentence that names a person or animal character, starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

D

1. Ali your child chose the lake, which is the setting. The main character is who the story follows. Ask: who walks, and who does the story follow?

E

1. Look for: Told aloud: a character, a place and two events in order. Written: one sentence from the story with a capital letter and a full stop.

Words to use

Say“Who is the story about? Where does it happen? What happens first, then next?”

Instead of“Tell them the answer straight away, or say the story is just nice.”

After the sheet

Read a bedtime picture book together. Pause after each page and ask: who is it about, where is it, and what happened next? Let your child tell the story back in three sentences.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

7 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

How feelings change(with a plan)
Describing the forest(with a plan)
Being the girl(with a plan)
Putting story events in order(with a plan)
Starting the Wild story(with a plan)
Writing the middle(with a plan)
Writing the ending(with a plan)

Every Year 1 English worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

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