While PLANS is a broad framework designed for all types of media, StoryPlans.ai applies it specifically to interactive read-aloud, ensuring every story fosters critical thinking, creativity, and social-emotional learning. Each StoryPlan integrates the PLANS framework, guiding educators through a purposeful, interactive read-aloud experience that moves beyond traditional storytelling to engage students in deeper learning and inquiry.

The Structure of a StoryPlan:

PROMPT: Setting the Stage for Inquiry & Connection

Every StoryPlan begins with a compelling essential question, framing the big idea of the story. This phase:

• Activates prior knowledge, sparking curiosity and setting a clear learning purpose.
• Encourages personal connections, allowing students to relate the story to their experiences.
• Provides a meaningful lens through which they will interpret key themes.
• Builds anticipation and engagement, prompting critical thinking about real-world challenges.

LEARN: Deepening Understanding Through the Read-Aloud

The core of the StoryPlan is the read-aloud itself, designed as an interactive, high-engagement experience where students think, predict, and respond actively. This phase:

• Guides educators in using expressive reading, think-alouds, and questioning to enhance comprehension.
• Encourages discussion prompts, movement-based engagement, and comprehension checks to reinforce key themes.
• Helps students interpret emotions, infer meaning, and connect the story to real life.
• Supports critical thinking and social-emotional learning, highlighting character growth and problem-solving.
• Introduces key vocabulary in context, reinforcing language development naturally.

ASK: Encouraging Reflection & Higher-Order Thinking

After the read-aloud, structured discussions prompt students to analyze the story at a deeper level. This phase:

• Guides students to reflect on key themes, character growth, and real-world connections.
• Utilizes think-pair-share, role-playing, and open-ended questions to encourage diverse perspectives.
• Helps students synthesize learning and extend their thinking beyond the story.
• Strengthens communication and reasoning skills, prompting students to justify their ideas.
• Encourages collaborative discussion and the exchange of diverse viewpoints.

NAVIGATE: Applying Learning Through Hands-On Exploration

Students transition from discussion to active exploration, applying their learning through engaging activities that reinforce the story’s themes. This phase:

• Incorporates experiential learning activities, such as problem-solving, storytelling, or role-play.
• Encourages students to experiment, create, and explore different solutions to story challenges.
• Deepens understanding by engaging multiple learning modalities.
• Bridges story concepts with real-world applications, fostering higher-order thinking.
• Reinforces perseverance and resilience, allowing students to iterate on their ideas.

SHARE: Reflecting & Communicating Learning

Students transition from discussion to active exploration, applying their learning through engaging activities that reinforce the story’s themes. This phase:

• Incorporates experiential learning activities, such as problem-solving, storytelling, or role-play.
• Encourages students to experiment, create, and explore different solutions to story challenges.
• Deepens understanding by engaging multiple learning modalities.
• Bridges story concepts with real-world applications, fostering higher-order thinking.
• Reinforces perseverance and resilience, allowing students to iterate on their ideas.

Additional Flexibility in StoryPlans.ai

StoryPlans.ai offers three additional activity types to ensure flexibility, allowing educators to tailor lessons to different instructional needs:

• Quick Activities: Short, engaging exercises for warm-ups, transitions, or when time is limited.
• Extension Activities: Opportunities for deeper exploration, creativity, and cross-curricular connections.
• Literacy Skill Activities: Focused exercises that reinforce vocabulary, comprehension, and writing development.

Built-In Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Strategies

To ensure accessibility for all learners, every StoryPlan integrates UDL principles, providing:

• Multiple ways to engage through discussion, movement, and exploration.
• Multiple ways to represent information using visuals, storytelling, and hands-on activities.
• Multiple ways for students to express learning, including verbal responses, writing, and creative projects.

By combining flexible activity options and UDL strategies, StoryPlans.ai ensures every read-aloud experience is engaging, adaptable, and inclusive for all learners.

Using StoryPlans.ai in Any Learning Environment

StoryPlans.ai makes it easy to bring interactive, research-based read-alouds into classrooms, libraries, and homeschool settings, using the PLANS framework to drive deeper engagement and learning.

• Classrooms: Seamlessly integrate literacy instruction with math, science, social studies, and other core subjects, making read-alouds a powerful interdisciplinary tool.
• Libraries: Develop engaging programming that fosters literacy, critical thinking, and learning opportunities for diverse communities.
• Homeschooling: Eliminate the frustration of endless searching for high-quality literacy materials with ready-made, research-backed lessons.

With our ready-made library of lesson plans and an AI-powered chatbot for lesson creation and customization, StoryPlans.ai makes it easier than ever to apply the PLANS framework seamlessly—turning every read-aloud into a powerful learning experience.