I wanted to find an interesting and comprehensive way of teaching the Elements of Fiction to my third graders (ie. Setting, Characters, Plot, Problem, Resolution, and Theme.)  

We began our Shared Reading of Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.  This book was chosen because it is a Newberry Honor book, and I felt the content would be comforting to several students in my class.  

I started with a brief overview discussion using a transparency on the overhead.   The transparency showed the Elements of Fiction in the form of a story map I had made using Kidspiration.  The class and I discussed what each Element of Fiction meant.

Students then used Kid Pix to create any one of the settings from the book.

As we read further, the students successfully used the Character Traits template from Kidspiration to map out the traits of any one of the characters from the book.

The next lesson came after the completion of the book.  (Prior to this lesson,  the 5th grade students helped to familiarize the 3rd graders with story mapping on Kidspiration using a Dr. Seuss story.)  My students mapped out the Elements of Fiction in 3rd grade pairs using Kidspiration.  

The students and I discussed more deeply how the problem was resolved at the end of the book and what the theme was.  We decided to have a Because of Winn-Dixie Friendship Party.  The students used Cardshop Plus to make invitations and sent them to people of different ages and from different walks of life.  This party would be a recreation of the party setting that happened in the book, and it would be a reinforcement of the theme of being able to make many different and unlikely kinds of friends.  In the book, new and varied friends of the main character, India Opal, attended the party and became friends with each other.   

I purchased and used a "Kritter USB" web cam for use on Gwenivere, the 20 pound tortoise.  We chose this activity because Gwen is our special school pet just as Winn-Dixie was India Opal's special pet.  Students planned and assisted in the recording of short movie clips which were then shown to the students in sequencial order using a digital projector. Students watched the movies and wrote their own stories about a day in the life of Gwen using the  Appleworks 6 program.  

The students have shown much better understanding of the Elements of Fiction than any other year I have tried to teach this.  This was an exciting way to learn.