How do we use a five-sentence story?

All stories follow the same basic pattern: an introduction, a build up, a climax, a resolution and an ending. To give children a sense of the shape of a story, it is helpful to support them in breaking down a known story into its component sections, summarising each with one sentence. This will enable them to see how stories are built and, consequently, start building their own.

Examples of five-sentence stories:

The Woodcutter

1. Once upon a time, there was a woodcutter, who lived in a little house in a beautiful, green wood.
2. One day, he was merrily chopping some wood, when he saw a little girl skipping through the woods, whistling happily, followed by a big grey wolf.
3. Deciding it was really none of his business, the woodcutter went back to chopping wood, until he heard a scream!
4. He grabbed his axe and ran towards the noise, where he found that he was too late: the big grey wolf had already eaten the little girl and her granny.
5. The moral of this story is: all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

1. One upon a time, there was a little girl with beautiful golden hair and her name was Goldilocks.
2. One day, she decided to go for a walk in the woods, where she found a sweet little cottage, where there was nobody home.
3. Wilfully and destructively, she went through the house like a whirlwind, causing damage and stealing food wherever she went.
4. Understandably, when the three bears came home, they were furious at the mess she’d made and immediately called the police.
5. In the end, Goldilocks was given 100 hours of community service and an ASBO.

Robert and the Aliens

1. Robert was bored of sitting around waiting for his sister to finish her homework, so he decided to go outside and play in the garden.
2. Wearily, he plopped himself down on the grass and stared grumpily up at the sky, before realising that there was something strange up there.
3. “What on earth is that?” he yelled, terrified, as the strange object zoomed down until it was only a few feet away, revealing rows and rows of weird green faces staring at him out of grey, circular windows.
4. Suddenly, he heard a call, “Roooo-bert”, and, blinking, turned his head to gabble at his sister in shock, but when he turned back, the spaceship was gone!
5. Had it ever really been there at all?

If you would like to learn more about five-sentence stories and how they can be used to support early writing, why not get in touch?