In this activity, students decide what they think the important parts in the text are and categorize them into the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Having students decide on the beginning, middle and end will help them break the text up and makes it easier to choose one or two main events to represent. Students can plan their ideas with a partner or individually and decide what events they would like to add to their storyboard.
The storyboard above shows two examples for the beginning, middle, and end. You can set a number of frames for the students to use based on the ability of the student, or the length of the text.
Pickles lives in a barrel, and since there is nothing better to do, he chases other cats. Mrs. Goodkind is his only friend, she feeds him and offers a home for him, but Pickles likes living outside better. She warns Pickles that something bad will happen if he continues to act bad.
Pickles chases a young cat up a tree and will not let the cat go. A storm comes, so Pickles lets the little cat go, but he is too scared to climb down! Mrs. Goodkind calls the firefighters and Fireman Joe climbs a ladder and rescues Pickles.
Mrs. Goodkind explains to Fireman Joe that Pickles wants to do big things in life. Fireman Joe brings Pickles to the fire station and the Chief says he will let pickles stay, if he learns how to be a good fire house cat.
Pickles learns the ropes very quickly. He learns how to slide down the fire pole, how to jump onto the engine and sit straight while the engine drives, how to help hold the firehose, and much more.
The Chief calls Pickles into his office. He tells Pickles he has seen all the hard work he has done. The Chief makes Pickles an official Fire Cat and gives him a little fire hat.
Pickles learns to be friendly with other cats. He goes on a call to help a cat stuck in a tree. It is the same tree he was rescued from! Pickles bravely climbs up the ladder and rescues the cat. He is very proud of himself and happy.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Make a storyboard summary of The Fire Cat.
Display a large anchor chart labeled Beginning, Middle, End to help students visualize story structure. Use colorful headings and simple icons or drawings for each section to make it engaging and easy for students to reference during reading and writing activities.
Read a story aloud and pause after each part to ask students what happened. Record their responses under the correct section on the anchor chart. This demonstrates how to break stories into main events and encourages active listening.
Give students sentence starters like "In the beginning...", "In the middle...", and "At the end..." to help them organize their thoughts. Encourage them to discuss ideas with partners before writing to build confidence and clarity.
Prompt students to draw quick sketches of key events for each story section. Support them in writing a simple, descriptive sentence under each picture. This reinforces comprehension and makes summaries more memorable.
Invite students to share their storyboards and discuss the main events they chose. Highlight different interpretations and celebrate creative ideas to build a positive classroom community and deepen understanding of story structure.
To create a visual summary storyboard for 'The Fire Cat', divide the story into beginning, middle, and end sections. For each part, choose one or two main events and draw pictures to represent them. Write a short sentence under each picture to explain the event.
The main events are: Beginning—Pickles lives outside and is rescued from a tree; Middle—Pickles learns to be a firehouse cat; End—Pickles becomes an official Fire Cat and rescues another cat. Focusing on these helps students summarize the story simply.
Breaking a story into beginning, middle, and end helps students identify key events, organize their thoughts, and create clearer summaries. It also makes it easier for them to focus on the most important parts of the story.
Use a storyboard with a set number of frames based on student ability, have students work individually or in pairs, and encourage them to pick the most important events. Adding a sentence under each picture helps reinforce comprehension.
The number of storyboard frames can be set according to student ability and text length. Typically, use two frames for each: beginning, middle, and end, for a total of six frames.