Every year (at least in the middle grades!) teachers address the topic of story elements.  After all, it is an essential skill for a good understanding of fiction and even for good basic reading comprehension.  But each year, that means starting out with some method of finding out what your kids already know (or more to the point – what they can remember).

A fun card game is one quick, painless way to accomplish this yearly task.  A whole-class game,  like this “I Have . . . Who Has . . ?” game, will give you a snapshot of where you class is at currently and how much you might need to review.  Has your class played this game before?  It’s super easy and quick to set up, and the game is planned so that every kid participates.

As the game progresses, each kid will ask one question, and answer one.  However, they never know when their question will be coming up, so everyone must stay engaged.  That is one of the features that I like best about this little game.  (That, plus the fact that it’s quick and easy!)

You can play I Have . . . Who Has . . ? with any topic, as long as each question that you use has one specific answer.  There are games available on many topics, or you can create your own.  I’ve put a free one in Classroom in the Middle’s store for story elements.  Here are the basic game directions:

Here you can see four of the cards from the game:  I Have . . . Who Has . . ? Story Elements.  There are 28 cards in the set, plus a page of blanks in case you need to add  a few more for a big class.  it Download here for FREE  if you would like to play with your class!

These little card games are also an engaging way to start off your review at the end of a big unit.   In fact, I make a new set to go along with every one of my novel studies with specific story details that I want to be sure kids remember from that novel, so that they will be more easily able to answer the more difficult questions.

Each of these sets is now included  with its novel study in my store.  Those sets consist of questions about details from the novel including characters’ traits, setting details, themes, and more.

I hope your class enjoys the free game!