Story Line
Peg the story cards in order — then play your story
About this tool
Story Line turns the paper story map into a living clothesline. Fifteen illustrated card sets — everyday routines, nature cycles like the butterfly and the little seed, and shared tales like the enormous turnip — wait in a shuffled tray below the line. A child drags a card up and pegs it in place, and the narrator tells that beat with a real sequence word: First, the snowflakes fall all night long. Then, we build a round, happy snowman.
The gentle secret is that every pegged order plays. Sequence words belong to the positions, not the cards, so a jumbled line makes the story sound wonderfully wrong — and hearing At the end before the snow has even fallen is the kindest self-correction there is. The narrator never judges an order; there is no red X and no correct-order banner, only the little book button that offers the book’s way as another version, without ever moving a child’s cards.
Retell mode turns the narrator off: pegs make a single soft chime, and Play my story becomes a silent spotlight the child fills with their own voice — a genuine one-to-one oral-language moment. Nothing is recorded, saved, or scored, deliberately: the teacher listens, and that is the whole point. Premium opens all fifteen sets, retell mode, and teacher tray staging; Rain and Rainbow and Baking Day are free forever.
How to use it in class
- Open Story Line on the projector — a free story set is dealt into the tray, shuffled.
- Ask: what happens first? Drag that card up to the line and peg it — the narrator tells the beat.
- Keep pegging. If the order comes out jumbled, just play it — the class will hear it and fix it.
- Tap Play my story for the spotlight replay, auto-paced or tap-to-advance.
- For retelling, switch the narrator off (Premium) and let your storyteller voice each beat as the spotlight moves.
Classroom ideas
- Morning circle: one three-card set, three volunteers, one peg each — then play the class’s story.
- Deliberately peg a story backwards and play it — the giggles teach the sequence words better than any drill.
- Science talk: the butterfly and little-seed sets pair perfectly with your life-cycle unit.
- Retell assessment moment: hide the narrator and listen while one child tells the whole line (nothing is recorded — just listen).
- Language support: the sequence-word chips stay visible, so emerging speakers always have their next connective in view.