Thank you rusty. This is super helpful.
I haven't studied the preterite tense either, so it's no different.
I have been reading about both past tenses trying to work out which it would be. I figured there would be a convention for storytelling, I just plunked for the wrong one. I tried asking my teacher about it, but she didn't get what I was asking.
I don't have any books in Spanish, which is why I decided to do it this way, but I have ordered some bi-lingual kids' books which should arrive soon.