Story Elements
Task Cards
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I hope your students have a blast learning with these holiday themed story elements task cards. Cards 1-12 are multiple
choice, Cards 13-24 have students identify the characters, setting, problem, and solution in a paragraph, cards 25-28
have students identify a story element from a picture, and cards 29-32 require students to write their own stories
(with all story elements) with some guidance from pictures. I have included an answer key for cards 1-28.
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Story Elements Task Cards
#1
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Story Elements Task Cards
#2
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Clara looked forward to Holiday music all year long.
Her dad always told her that it was tradition to wait
until the day after Thanksgiving to turn it on, and
she couldn’t wait! She woke up the Friday after
Thanksgiving and anxiously turned on her iPod.
The screen stayed black. She pushed every button
there was, but nothing worked. She couldn’t
believe she had waited this long to listen to her
music and now her iPod wasn’t working!
Jeremy looked out his window in awe. Overnight,
a fresh blanket of snow had covered the sheets
of ice that were already on the road. The sun
glimmered on the white snow, making it sparkle in
the daylight. The snowman that Jeremy had built
yesterday was almost completely covered by the
new snow, and it continued to fall like confetti
from the sky. It was the perfect winter scene.
A Setting B Problem C Solution
A Character B Problem C Setting
Story Elements Task Cards
#3
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
“Please hand me that string of lights!” dad called
from atop the ladder.
He had been working on hanging the lights all
day in hopes of having the light scene finished in time
for the big party. Dad hooked the last set of lights on
and climbed down from the roof. “It’s going to be
amazing!” he exclaimed as he headed for the plug.
The family began counting down from three, and
when they finished, dad excitedly plugged in the lights.
Nothing happened. Not one light was lit upon the house.
A Solution B Setting C Problem
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
Story Elements Task Cards
#4
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Annie excitedly walked up the steps and into the
mall. Ever since she was a baby, she had loved to
sit on Santa’s lap. Her mother had pictures of
her smiling from ear to ear when she was only
three months old. Now she was three years old,
and Annie was more thrilled than ever to be going
to see the jolly fella. As they got closer and
closer to Mr. Claus, Annie began jumping up and
down, giddy with excitement.
A Character B Solution C Setting
Story Elements Task Cards
#5
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Story Elements Task Cards
#6
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Every year, the Smith family had a tradition of
bringing cookies to the big winter bash. This
year, though, mom had a terrible cold and
couldn’t bake the cookies. Dad saved the day
when he took the kids to the local bakery to
pick out an assortment of cookies for the bash.
They chose dozens of cookies and declared it
the best cookie tray ever!
As Joey’s car slid around another curb, he cringed.
He looked at the clock. 8:05. With all the ice on
the roads, he knew there was no way he was
going to make it to school by the time the bell rang
at 8:10. As the car slid again, he groaned. Ms.
Smith had already told him if he was late again, he
would have to stay in during recess. Looks like it
would be an indoor recess day for him.
A Setting B Character C Solution
A Solution B Problem C Setting
Story Elements Task Cards
#7
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
It’s not the real thing, but The North Pole Amusement
Park in the Colorado mountains is just about as close as
you can get. As you climb the snowy mountain to get to
the attraction, holiday music fills the air and snow
gently falls on Santa’s Workshop. Buildings are filled
with toys, and all employees are dressed as elves.
There are even rides, like the Sleigh Ride zip line in
Santa’s sleigh and the Candy Cane Carousel. The
center of the park features a frozen block of ice, just
like on the North Pole!
A Solution B Setting C Problem
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
Story Elements Task Cards
#8
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
“But it just won’t be the same if we aren’t at
Grandma’s house this year,” sighed Molly.
“I know, honey, but plane tickets are much too
expensive to fly all the way to New York again.”
mom responded. “How about if we set up our
webcams and Skype with Grandma all week long.”
“That’s a great idea! And I can watch her
open all the presents I am going to make her.” Maybe
this won’t be so bad after all, Molly decided.
A Character B Solution C Setting
Story Elements Task Cards
#9
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Jake shivered as he walked back into the house. He
and his father had been outside shoveling for hours,
and they still weren’t done. Jake had insisted they
take a break because he couldn’t feel his fingers
anymore. Rushing to the kitchen, he asked mom to
heat up some milk. When it was warm, he mixed the
hot cocoa in and begin sipping it while he gripped the
warm cup with his hands. Finally, he began to thaw
and could move his fingers again!
A Setting B Problem C Solution
Story Elements Task Cards
#10
It was supposed to be the most wonderful time of
the year, but no matter what anyone did to cheer him
up, Scrooge couldn’t help but be miserable. He put in
earplugs when he heard holiday songs, cringed at
the sight of wrapping paper, and grumbled as he
made his way through crowded stores full of jolly
shoppers...and you would never catch him wearing
red or green during the holiday season. That would
be much too festive for his liking.
A Solution B Character C Setting
Story Elements Task Cards
#11
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Story Elements Task Cards
#12
Read the paragraph below and select which
story element is most likely being described.
Mom was getting desperate. There was only one
thing on dad’s holiday wish-list, and she wanted
nothing more than to find it. She had already
been to every store in town, and it was sold out
everywhere online. She even tried calling stores
outside of her city to see if they had it. There
were only a few days left for her to find it, or it
wouldn’t be under the tree in time...
The streets were glowing with festive lights,
and a gentle snowfall shimmered onto the
street. Decorated floats covered with lights,
characters, singers, and dancers moved
past the families lining the pavement. It was
like a scene out of a movie as carols played
in the background and children’s eyes lit up
with wonder!
A Solution B Setting C Problem
A Character B Solution C Setting
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
Story Elements Task Cards
#13
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Story Elements Task Cards
#14
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Aiden and Luke bundled up to head out into the cold
winter air. There was finally enough snow on the ground
to build a snowman, and that is exactly what they were
going to do! As they began gathering the snow, they
couldn’t get it to stick together. It was much too fluffy
and fell between their fingers each time they picked it up.
“What are we going to do?” moaned Aiden.
“Oh! I have an idea!” Luke called as he ran in his house.
Soon, Luke returned with a spray bottle of ice cold
water. He sprayed the water on a patch of snow and
cupped it into a ball. It worked! They could finally build
the snowman they had been dreaming about.
Jessa sat on the floor of the family living room.
She was surrounded by advertisements from the local
newspaper. Armed with her Sharpie, a notepad and pen,
she was ready to start making her holiday wish list. She
started circling clothes, toys, and accessories that she
wanted and listing them on the pad of paper. When she
was done, she proudly handed the list to her mom.
“That’s a great list,” mom exclaimed, “but how will
Grandma know what to get you if you only have one
list?”
“I know!” Jessa replied excitedly, “I will just have
to make another list with even more wishes!”
Story Elements Task Cards
Story Elements Task Cards
#15
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Mom pulled her last batch of cookies out of the oven. The
kitchen was a mess of bowls and spoons and flour, but the
gingerbread cookies that were coming out of the oven
looked absolutely perfect! She carefully placed two tiny
white globs of icing on each face and began putting candy
eyes on each gingerbread shape. With only two more
cookies to decorate, she ran out of eyes! She looked
around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to create eyes.
She saw the black icing sitting on the counter, ready to
frost the hats of snowmen sugar cookies. “Aha!” she
exclaimed, as she placed a teeny, tiny dab of black icing on
top of the white icing. They weren’t as pretty as the candy
eyes, but the icing eyes did the trick!
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
#16
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Dad stood at the ticket counter tapping his fingers on
the desk. He had been waiting in line for an hour to figure
out how to get his family home. They were stranded at the
Chicago Airport after a massive snow storm had walloped
the city.
The employee at the ticket counter frowned as he
looked at his computer. “Sir, it looks like the first flight to
get you home won’t leave until tomorrow at 8pm.”
“Oh my!” dad responded. “Do we have any other options?”
“You could rent a car and drive home.” the employee
suggested.
“That sounds like a better idea than sitting in the
airport for 36 more hours” dad said as he walked over to the
line to rent a car.
Story Elements Task Cards
#17
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Story Elements Task Cards
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
#18
The Johnsonville School Choir had been rehearsing
their Holiday Show for two months. They couldn’t wait to
perform for their first audience– the Johnsonville Nursing
Home. With eager eyes, the residents of the home watched the
group of children get ready to sing. Ms. Joe, the choir teacher,
told the students to get ready, and she pushed “play” on the
background music. The room was silent. Try as she may, Ms.
Joe couldn’t get the music to play.
From the back of the room, and older gentleman piped
up. “I’m a pianist and can play any song you need! What is first
up on your list?” he asked as he headed for the piano.
The entire room breathed a sigh of relief when they
heard the man begin to play “Jingle Bells.”
Gene was in the middle of cooking dinner when he
opened the fridge to get some milk. Instead of feeling
the rush of cold air he was used to, it was warm! He put
his hand in the refrigerator to feel around and realized it
wasn’t cold at all.
“Jackie! Rachel! Jenna! Come help me empty out
the fridge right away!” he called to his daughters.
The family began pulling out the milk, the eggs, the
fruits, and the vegetables that sat in the warm fridge.
“What are we going to do with it?” Jackie asked.
“Let’s put it out in the frozen snow bank, where it
will stay cold until we can get it fixed,” dad replied.
Story Elements Task Cards
Story Elements Task Cards
#19
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
David walked through the mall, his arms sore
from the weight of his bags. He was proud to
finally be done with his holiday shopping, but now
he was dreading going home and wrapping all of
the goodies. As he headed toward to wrapping
paper store, he saw a booth with a sign that read
“FREE GIFTWRAPPING!” He thought it was too
good to be true, but it wasn’t! He handed over
his packages and they wrapped all of the gifts
for him while he grabbed a pretzel and a soda.
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
#20
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Mary had been looking forward to finishing up her
shopping online this year. As she settled into her
couch with her iPad and a cup of hot cocoa, she
realized that her internet wasn’t working! What a
bummer. She knew she had to finish her shopping.
After all, she was ordering the gifts online, so they
needed time to be shipped. She simply didn’t have
time to wait around for the Internet to work again.
So she slipped some jeans on and headed to the
local coffee shop. Their Internet was working, and
their hot cocoa was even better than her own!
Story Elements Task Cards
#21
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
Story Elements Task Cards
#22
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
The York family had just arrived home after spending the
day picking out the perfect tree. They had chopped it
down themselves and couldn’t wait to get it inside. The
only problem was that once they arrived home, it was
clear that there was no way the tree was going to fit
through the front door. It was much too round, and they
didn’t want to risk breaking off any of the branches.
They tried the backdoor, but they still didn’t have any
luck. Finally, they decided that the only way in would be
through the giant picture window in the living room. After
dad took the screen off, the tree fit in perfectly!
Don’s dad loved Jeeps. Don had already selected the
perfect Jeep T-shirt to give to his dad. Now, he roamed
the aisles of Target looking for the perfect wrapping
paper. There was wrapping paper with elves, snowman,
and movie characters, but he couldn’t seem to find any
wrapping paper fit for his gift! He finally selected some
plain red wrapping paper—the same color as his dad’s
Jeep. When he got home, he wrapped the shirt in the red
paper and grabbed a marker. He carefully drew dozens
of Jeeps all over the wrapped package. When he was
done, it looked even better than Jeep wrapping paper
that any store could have created!
Story Elements Task Cards
Story Elements Task Cards
#23
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
The Snider family had just moved from Colorado to Texas.
Their three children loved their new house, their new
school, and most of the time, the new weather where they
lived. During the holidays, however, they were saddened by
the warm air instead of the sparkling snow that they were
used to. Dad felt bad for the kids, so he decided to bring
them a little snow! He went to the store and bought a snow
cone machine, which made crushed ice that looked just like
snow. The kids spent the whole day making mini-snowmen
and snow angels with their fingers. It wasn’t just like snow
in Colorado—it was even better! They could play in this
snow without their entire bodies being chilled to the bone!
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
#24
Read the paragraph below and identify the characters,
setting, problem, and solution of each story.
It was December in Arizona, and the idea of snow never
even crossed people’s minds. The temperatures were
usually warm, but today it was FREEZING! The children
talked all day about how cold it was. They never
expected it to snow that night, but when they woke up
the next morning, even the roads were covered in the
white stuff! The kids in neighborhood wanted to sled,
but they couldn’t buy a sled anywhere! Kim’s family got
creative, though. They used the lid of the plastic trash
can, the plastic kiddie pool, and even a cardboard box. It
looked a little silly, but it sure did work!
Story Elements Task Cards
#25
Look at the picture below. Then, write a
description of the CHARACTER in the picture.
Story Elements Task Cards
#26
Story Elements Task Cards
#27
Look at the picture below. Then, write a
description of the PROBLEM in the picture.
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
Look at the picture below. Then, write a
description of the SETTING in the picture.
Story Elements Task Cards
#28
Look at the picture below. Then, write a
description of the PROBLEM & the SOLUTION in
the picture.
Story Elements Task Cards
#29
Use the pictures below to write a
short story that includes a setting,
characters, problem, and solution.
Story Elements Task Cards
#30
Story Elements Task Cards
#31
Use the pictures below to write a
short story that includes a setting,
characters, problem, and solution.
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
Use the pictures below to write a
short story that includes a setting,
characters, problem, and solution.
Story Elements Task Cards
#32
Use the pictures below to write a
short story that includes a setting,
characters, problem, and solution.
Holiday Story Elements Task Cards
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
NAME:
10.
11.
12.
Card 13
Card 14
Card 15
Card 16
Card 17
Card 18
Card 19
Card 20
Card 21
Card 22
Card 23
Card 24
Characters
Setting
Problem
Solution
Characters
Setting
Problem
Solution
25.
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
26.
27.
28.
Holiday Story Elements Task Cards Answer Key
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. A
5. C
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. C
10. B 11. C
12. C
Card 13
Card 14
Card 15
Card 16
Card 17
Card 18
Aiden & Luke
Jessa
Mom
Dad & Airline Employee
Choir, Residents, Ms.
Joe, older gentleman
Gene, Jackie, Rachel,
Jenna
Setting
Outside building a
snowman
Living room
Kitchen
Airport
Nursing Home
Kitchen
Problem
The snow won’t stick
together
Only one shopping list
Not enough candy eyes
Can’t get a flight home
Background music
won’t play
The refrigerator is
broken and they need a
place for the food
Solution
Use a spray bottle of
ice water
Make another one for
Grandma
Use frosting to create
the eyes instead
Drive home
A resident of the
nursing home plays
piano
They will put it in the
freezing snow bank
Card 19
Card 20
Card 21
Card 22
Card 23
Card 24
Characters
David
Mary
York Family
Don
Snider Family
Children & Kim’s Family
Setting
Mall
House and Coffee Shop
Home
Target and Home
Texas/Home
Arizona
Problem
Doesn’t want to wrap
his gifts
Her Internet isn’t
working
The tree won’t fit in
the door
He can’t find Jeep
wrapping paper
They miss the snow in
Colorado
Nobody can find any
sleds in Arizona
Solution
He finds a free
wrapping station
She goes to a coffee
shop to use the
internet
It goes in through the
big window
He creates his own
Dad buys a snow cone
machine to make a mini
snow
They use household
items
Characters
25. Describe the little
boy, his emotions, etc.
©2014 Teaching W ith a Mountain View
26.
Describe the snowy scene
with the houses, trees, cars, etc.
27.
Describe the girls’ problem
as her broken down car.
28.
The car was covered with
snow so she is scraping the snow off.