Language Arts · Grade 1

Active learning ideas

Problem and Solution in Narratives

Active learning helps Grade 1 students grasp problem and solution in narratives by making abstract concepts concrete. When children physically act out conflicts or draw solutions, they connect emotions and actions to story events more deeply than passive listening allows.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

• 20–35 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 25 min · Pairs

Pair Retell: Problem-Solution Cards

Partners read a short story together and draw two cards: one for the problem, one for the solution. They explain the character's actions linking the two, using sequence words like first and then. Pairs share one card pair with the class on chart paper.

Explain how a character's actions lead to solving a problem.

Facilitation Tip

During Pair Retell: Problem-Solution Cards, circulate to prompt students who get stuck by asking, 'What was the first thing that went wrong?', guiding them to start from the problem.

What to look for

Provide students with a short story or picture book excerpt. Ask them to write or draw: 1. The main problem the character faced. 2. One action the character took to solve it. 3. The final solution.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 30 min · Small Groups

Small Group Role-Play: Fix It Scenarios

Groups receive a story problem prompt, like a spilled picnic. They act out the original solution, then improvise two alternatives. Discuss which works best and why, recording ideas on a group chart.

Predict different ways a character could have solved their problem.

Facilitation Tip

For Small Group Role-Play: Fix It Scenarios, assign roles by character need, not personality, so groups focus on solving problems collaboratively.

What to look for

Read a familiar story aloud. Ask: 'What was the biggest problem for [character's name]? How did [character's name] try to fix it? What happened in the end? Do you think there was another way [character's name] could have solved the problem?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 35 min · Whole Class

Whole Class Mapping: Story Board Walk

Project a familiar story. Class brainstorms and adds sticky notes to a large chart for problem, actions, and solution. Students walk the board, adding predictions for other endings.

Assess the effectiveness of a character's solution to a story's problem.

Facilitation Tip

When running the Whole Class Mapping: Story Board Walk, model how to draw arrows between events to show cause and effect, not just a timeline.

What to look for

During read-alouds, pause at key moments. Ask students to turn to a partner and explain the problem the character is currently facing and predict what they might do next to solve it. Listen to partner discussions.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 20 min · Individual

Individual Draw: My Solution

Students select a class-read story, draw the problem and their own solution. Label actions taken. Share in a gallery walk, noting effective choices.

Explain how a character's actions lead to solving a problem.

Facilitation Tip

With Individual Draw: My Solution, give sentence starters like 'I think the character should ... because ...' to scaffold written responses.

What to look for

Provide students with a short story or picture book excerpt. Ask them to write or draw: 1. The main problem the character faced. 2. One action the character took to solve it. 3. The final solution.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with simple, relatable problems like a lost toy or a rain-soaked picnic. Avoid overcomplicating with multiple problems at first; build from one clear conflict to layered ones. Use think-alouds to model how you identify a problem and brainstorm solutions before reading. Research shows young children benefit from repeated exposure to the same structure across different stories and genres.

Successful learning shows when students can name a problem in a story, describe at least one attempt to solve it, and identify the outcome. They should also compare solutions and explain why one strategy might work better than another in a given context.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Small Group Role-Play: Fix It Scenarios, watch for students who blame characters for problems. Correction: Provide role cards that describe the problem from the character's perspective, such as 'I wanted to play outside, but it started raining.' This shift focuses attention on the situation, not the person.

  Provide role cards that describe the problem from the character's perspective, such as 'I wanted to play outside, but it started raining.' This shift focuses attention on the situation, not the person.

• During Whole Class Mapping: Story Board Walk, watch for students who assume the first solution always works. Correction: Use arrows to mark multiple attempts and outcomes on the storyboard, labeling each try with 'First try,' 'Second try,' or 'Final solution.'

  Use arrows to mark multiple attempts and outcomes on the storyboard, labeling each try with 'First try,' 'Second try,' or 'Final solution.'

• During Pair Retell: Problem-Solution Cards, watch for students who identify only one problem. Correction: Provide sets of cards with two or three problems linked by the same character or event, and ask students to sort them in order to show how problems build on each other.

  Provide sets of cards with two or three problems linked by the same character or event, and ask students to sort them in order to show how problems build on each other.

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Methods used in this brief

• Outdoor Investigation Session