Tyler, my 5th grader, is learning about themes and settings in his Language Arts class. (Tyler schools through a virtual public school)
According to the lesson, setting is where and when the story takes place. Writers use details, such as the senses and feelings, so that the reader can better visualize the setting. The reader can also figure out what the setting might be by analyzing the details.
The lesson guide provides a web diagram where the student writes the setting in the middle circle, then webs off of that circle, filling in the different senses and feelings that are described in the story.
I decided that this wouldn't work well for Tyler, so I made my own worksheet. It's very simple. The heading says "What did he...". I then made a table with six columns, each one labeled with a sense (taste, smell, etc) and one for feeling.
As Tyler reads the story and comes to a describing detail, he will write the detail in the appropriate column.
For example, the story will say "I heard the roaring waves. I smelled the rotting fish. I felt the sand between my toes."
Tyler will write under the heading "hear": the roaring waves.
Under "smell": the rotting fish
Under "touch": the sand between my toes.
Then, if the story does not tell what the setting is, we can make inferences based on the details that we have.
Interested in this simple worksheet? I have a PDF version of it here.