You can read a sentence now. A story is made of sentences, and every story is holding three things: somebody it is about, a place and time it happens in, and the things that change. Once you can name those three, you can retell any story you have read — and you can tell a real event apart from a detail that is just sitting there. Five tabs — cards for the three parts, hints with the questions that find them, a quiz that asks you to sort, and a workshop where you separate who from where from what happens, put four events in order, label a story scene and say why the where matters at all.
Ask who it is about. Here it is Ana and her dog. Whoever the story keeps coming back to is a character.
Every story is holding three things: WHO it is about, WHERE and WHEN it happens, and WHAT CHANGED. Name those three and you can retell any story — and anything that changed nothing is a detail, not an event.
Two things people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
The setting of the story is the park.
That is only half of it. The setting is where AND when. The same park in the afternoon is a small worry; the same park after dark is frightening. Nothing else changed but the time, and the whole story changed with it.
Where AND when. Half a setting is half an answer.
⚠️People often think…
Retelling a story means saying everything that was in it.
That is reading it out loud from memory, not retelling it. Keep only what changed — who, where and when, what went wrong, how it came out. If you could take a sentence out and the ending would be the same, it was a detail.
Keep what changed. Drop the rest.
Who, where and when, what changed
1Watch one
Retell this in three sentences: Ana walked her dog in the park after dark. The dog pulled free and ran off. Ana called and called. At the gate, she found him waiting.
Who is it about? Ana and her dog. Where and when? The park, after dark.
What went wrong? The dog pulled free and ran off. That is the problem.
How did it come out? She found him waiting at the gate.
Say it in three: Ana was walking her dog in the park after dark. He pulled free and ran off, and she called and called. In the end she found him at the gate.
2Do one with me
Answer the three questions about that story.
The story is about
It happens in the
It happens after
💬One sentence, then you move on
Why is “her coat was red” a detail and “she lost the coat” an event?
3Try one
In one word: what does an event do to a story that a detail does not?
I want a hint first
After an event, something is different. The word you want is what an event does.
Where this goes
Where this lives
Telling a friend what happened at recess, saying what a film was about, explaining why you were late — every one of them is who, where and when, and what changed.
What this feeds
Next room: how a story is shaped from its beginning to its end.
Tell somebody one thing that happened today, and say where and when.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The unit in one line
Ask who it is about → ask where and when it happens → then ask what changed. Those three answers are the story; everything else is decoration.
Who. Where and when. What changed.
🔑 The one idea
An event is something that CHANGES. “He wore a blue shirt” tells you about him but nothing moved. “He lost his shoe” changed the story. Retelling means saying the changes, in order.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
The setting is not only where. It is where AND when. The same park in the morning and at night are two different stories.
Retelling is not telling everything. If you say every detail you will run out of breath before the end.
A character does not have to be a person. A dog, a robot, a talking bus — anybody the story follows is a character.
Order matters. “He fell and then he climbed the tree” is a different story from “He climbed the tree and then he fell.”
📐 The three questions — the chart
Ask
You find
Example
Who is it about?
the characters
Ana, her dog
Where does it happen?
half of the setting
the park
When does it happen?
the other half
after dark
What changed?
an event
the dog ran off
What did NOT change?
a detail
her coat was red
🎯 How you will be asked
“Who is this story about?”
“Where and when does it happen?”
“Put these four things in the order they happened.”
“Which of these is something that happened, and which is just a detail?”
“Retell the story in three sentences.”
✅ Before the test, can you…
Name the characters in a story you read this week?
Give the setting as BOTH a place and a time?
Tell an event from a detail without being told which is which?
Retell a story without saying every single thing in it?
Explain why changing the order changes the story?
Pick your level
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Work like someone retelling a story: send twelve lines to who, where or what happens, put four events back in order, label a story scene, then say why the where and the when are not decoration.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
Date
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Topic
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Level
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Independent
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Supported
0 of 0
Hints used
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Cards studied
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Lab
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Traps met
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Explained in own words
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Confidence
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The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.