A simple story wheel can be a circle divided into approximately 6 segments with a place in the centre for the story title. After listening to a story and working on it with discussion or drama, the children can break the story up into parts and illustrate each part. These can be displayed near to book shelves.
However, with a second consecutive circle placed on top, the story wheel can be used in the process of creating stories with the outside wheel giving options for main characters in the story and an inside wheel giving options for different story settings. Here are the instructions for making such a story wheel.
1. Draw a large circle with a 7 inch (18 cm) diameter i.e. 3.5 in (9 cm) radius.
2. Draw a small circle with a 4 inch (10 cm) diameter i.e. 2 in (5 cm) radius.
3. Divide both circles into 6 segments
4. Using the large circle draw a circle with a 2 in (5 cm) radius in the centre. This is where the small circle will later be attached.
5. In each segment of the large circle you need a picture of a character and the character’s name.
6. The name is written at the top of the segment, near to the edge of the circle, following the circular shape.
7. It works well if the name is composed of a common noun e.g. butterfly, doctor, horse, giant, preceded by an adjective which tells you something about the character e.g. silver butterfly, tiny doctor, flying horse, kind giant.
8. ‘A,’ ‘a,’ ‘An’ or ‘an’ should be placed before the character name.
9. A picture of the character should be positioned under the name and above the centre circle.
10. Using the small circle, at the top of each segment write ‘lived’ followed by a setting or location, e.g. ‘on a spaceship,’ ‘in a busy town,’ ‘on a sunny island,’ ‘in a magic ship’
11. Draw a simple picture of the setting under the writing.
12. When all segments are complete, attach the smaller circle on top of the large circle with a split pin.