This is a game to help teach the beginning, middle and end of stories. Divide the class into three groups. Read them the Three Little Bears aloud. Have each group make sock puppets for the Three Bears and Goldilocks. Have each group figure out the beginning, middle and end of the story. Each group will present their version of the story with their puppets to an upper-grade class. They will need to let the audience know when they are presenting each part of the story. The audience can vote on the best presentation.
Find four or five simple stories that can be divided into beginning, middle and end easily. The Three Pigs, Little Red Hen, The Three Bears, Billy Goats Gruff and Snow White work well for this. Write a brief summary of the three parts of each story on large paper. Make three sets of these so they can be used by teams of students. Divide the class into three teams and give them each a set of the story parts. Give each team two minutes to sequence the story correctly and put them on the board in the correct order. The team who does it the fastest the most times wins.
Divide the class into four groups. Give each group a simple story to read. Have the students read the book aloud together and talk about what the problem is in the story, who are the characters and how the problem is solved. Have each student pick a part in the story, even if it's a pet or other character that isn't human. Each group will act out the story to the class within a five to ten-minute time limit. The other groups will have 3 minutes to discuss the story and 3 minutes to retell the story based on what they saw. The group who retells it best is the winner.
A KWL activity is designed to encourage the students to think about what they already know, what they want to know and what they learned about a story. Divide the class into four groups. Give each student a piece of paper with three columns. One labeled, KNOW, one labeled, WANT TO KNOW and one labeled, LEARNED. In each column list facts about a story you have been studying. Have the teams cover their papers with another paper, leaving the KNOW column visible. Give them one minute to read and discuss what it says. Repeat with the other two columns, uncovering one at a time. The team to guess the story first after the minute for the LEARNED column is up wins.