Exploring story setting with your elementary aged students
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida is a place where you can feel immersed in the magic of your favorite Disney movies. It fun to see the pure joy on the faces of preschool and early elementary aged students visiting the Magic Kingdom and see them meet the characters and see their favorite movies come to life. This immersive experience provides the perfect opportunity to talk about the setting of a story.
The Disney Imagineers are masters of storytelling and I can’t think of a better place to have an Edventure focusing on the story element, setting. I have created a brochure formatted activity sheet that you can take with you as you tour the Magic Kingdom. Many of the activities are for rides that have lower wait times. This allows you to work your Edventure around your FastPasses for the fun headline E Ticket attractions.
Each activity focuses on a different when or where of the setting. When visiting Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid your student will focus on the geographic place of the story. It is also fun for the older students to observe how the imagineers created the transitions from above the water to “Under the Sea”, and then back again. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh provides a great opportunity to look at how setting can be defined by weather. Disney’s Carousel of Progress gives you the chance to talk about how setting is created not only by year but the time of year. You can see the technology change by the decades while celebrating Independence Day and even Christmas.
One final activity that I have included is a fun Find Pascal in the Tangled Restroom area. This is an area of the park that is very detailed in theme and the setting is very recognizable. If your child has access to a camera it is fun to not only write where you found Pascal but also to take a photo. These photos and location descriptions can then serve as a jumping off point for your student to practice writing stories when you get home. Have the student use their writing skills to differentiate where Pascal is hiding. One focus can be on how the different setting of the story creates plot points. How did Pascal get there? What is he doing there? The possibilities are endless.
The point of all of this work on setting is that when students study novels in later grades they will notice how the author creates the setting and how the author usese it as a tool within the novel. In addition it is hoped that the student will be able to model this in their own creative writing.
Enjoy your Edventure.
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