Description
Review academic vocabulary for literary elements and characterization with an engaging story elements bingo game in your middle school literature class. This makes a fun whole class end of year review activity, or it’s great for small groups in a learning center.
What’s Included?
30 unique Story Elements Bingo cards with literature vocabulary words
Definition cards
Blank Bingo cards so that students can write in their own terms
Instructions for the teacher
Teacher Prep
Choose how you will use this resource.
Reusable Story Elements Bingo game cards
Print pages 5-22 on cardstock with color ink (if desired), cut and laminate. I hole punch the BINGO cards and keep them on a binder ring when not in use. I also hole punch a brown 6”x9” envelope to store the definition cards and keep them on that same ring. This is a great format for using the game as a rotation in a learning station.
You will also need markers or chips of some kind for student to mark the spaces on their cards. Math manipulatives work great if you have access to those. I just keep an envelope full of squares I cut from colored cardstock using the paper cutter in our teacher workroom. Spaces on the BINGO cards are slightly less than 1” square.
One-time use for a quick story elements review game
Print pages 5-22 on regular copy paper and cut the cards apart. This provides 30 BINGO cards. If you have more than 30 students, just print an extra copy of pages 5-19 as needed. Each page includes two cards. If you know you will only have time for one game, students can just mark the spaces on their BINGO cards with a pencil as the definitions are called out. My kids always beg to play again, though, so you might want to find or make some paper chips as described above.
One-time use for a longer class period
Print page 4 on regular copy paper, one copy per every two students. Also print pages 20-22 for the definition cards. Have students write the vocabulary words into the spaces on their own BINGO cards in whichever order they prefer. It takes longer to get started, but I believe that physically writing the words helps to cement them in the students’ memory.
How to Play Story Elements Bingo
- Distribute a Bingo card (& game markers) to each student.
- Shuffle the definition cards and then call out the definition from the top card. Keep a separate stack of the definitions you have used.
- Students cover the word on their card when they hear its definition.
- Repeat this process until a student has covered 5 words in a row and says “Bingo!”
- You can check by having the student read their words (and comparing to the definition cards you have used), or for a little more rigor, have the student define in their own words the terms they used to complete the Bingo.
- Have fun with this!

Word List
allegory
antagonist
archetype
character
character trait
characterization
climax
conflict
dialogue
dynamic character
first person point of view
flashback
foreshadowing
genre
mood
narrative
narrator
pacing
plot
protagonist
setting
static character
symbol
theme
third person limited
third person omniscient
universal theme
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