How to Make a Story Wheel in Sixth Grade

The circular shape of the wheel symbolizes how one event flows into another to form a complete story.

A story wheel is an effective way to visually lay out the major events of a book. Though many events may occur in a book, the action of the plot can be broken down into just a few key points. Creating a story wheel for a book you have read is a helpful way to dissect the plot and understand what the book is truly about.

Things You'll Need

• Piece of paper
• Pencil
• Piece of string
• Ruler
• Colored pencils or crayons

Instructions

1. Lay your piece of paper in front of you. Tie one end of the string to your pencil. Hold your pencil in your writing hand and hold the string in your other hand. Hold the string at a distance from the pencil that is 1/2 the diameter you wish your story wheel circle to be. Secure this point of the string to the center of the paper with your thumb and draw a circle around it with the pencil, keeping the string taught so that your pencil line is of equal distance from the center from all points. This should make a perfect circle.

2. Grasp the string at 1/2 the distance to the pencil as you used for your large circle. Secure at the same center point and draw a small circle inside the big one.

3. Make an X through the large circle, dividing it equally into four parts. Use a ruler for a straight edge to make the lines straight. Make another X at a 45-degree angle from the first X to divide the circle into eight equal parts. All of the lines will intersect at the center of the inner circle. Draw lightly inside the inner circle, then erase completely inside the inner circle once your straight lines are all complete.

4. On another piece of paper, list all of the important events from your book.

5. Narrow down your list of important events to the eight most important plot points of the entire book. Number these events 1 through 8, in the order in which they occur in the book.

6. Number the sections of your outer circle 1 through 8, beginning at the upper right with numbers ascending in a clockwise direction.

7. Draw a picture of each numbered event in the correspondingly numbered section of the outer circle. Use crayons and colored pencils for color.

8. Write the title of the book and the author in the center of the circle.

9. Turn your circle over. Write your name and copy the numbered 8 important events onto the back.

References

• Wisconsin Educational Communications Board; Story Wheel; 2006