Our The Truck Cat Story Map worksheets are a fantastic way to consolidate students’ understanding of the narrative structure in The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel. Through visual mapping, students are encouraged to sequence key events and identify core story elements. This scaffolded activity supports comprehension as well as oral and written retelling skills, making it ideal for whole-class discussions, group work, or independent literacy stations.

How to Complete

There are two versions of the story map worksheets to suit your cohort. There are two versions of the story map worksheets to suit your cohort. Both are designed to be completed after reading and discussing The Truck Cat as a class:

1. Version 1 – Cut & Paste: Students cut out pre-drawn illustrations representing various parts of the story. They then glue each image into the correct section: beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, and message. Alternatively, enlarge the template to A3 and invite students to draw the story elements themselves.
2. Version 2 – Draw & Write: Students draw key events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story in the top boxes. Beneath each drawing, they write a brief description of what happened during that part of the narrative.

Additional Tips

1. Reread the story as a class before beginning the activity to refresh students' memory and support vocabulary development.
2. Use students’ completed story maps as prompts for oral retells or pair-sharing.
3. Encourage students to refer back to the book for accuracy, especially when matching images to story parts.
4. Younger students may benefit from having the templates enlarged to A3.

Extension Ideas

1. Creative Writing: Ask students to rewrite the story from Mari’s perspective using their story map as a guide.
2. Dramatisation: Use the story map boxes as ‘scenes’ for a role-play retelling of the story.

This engaging worksheet is perfect for building narrative comprehension skills and supporting students as they develop confidence in organising and retelling stories.

This resource is available in our basic fun font and all Australian state fonts.

This resource is part of our The Truck Cat: Book PACKAGE.