Book Read-alouds/ Digital Copies
Book Read-alouds/ Digital Copies
Embedded Files
Plot structure/ Plot Mountain
Plot structure/ Plot Mountain
The plot of a story is the story line, or the events that happen in the story. Most plots follow a similar pattern. This is called the plot structure. The plot structure can be thought of like climbing a mountain, with each part of the story being a different part of the climb. Because of this, we use a picture of a mountain, called a plot mountain, to organize the parts of a story.
This video has a song that describes each part of a typical story plot.
This is a diagram showing what happens in each part of a typical story plot. "Background" is also sometimes called "exposition" or "introduction."
Vocabulary Words:
Vocabulary Words:
Exposition: the beginning of a story where you learn about the setting, and characters, including nay important background information. This part is sometimes called the beginning, background, or introduction.
Rising action: the part of the story that comes after the exposition. The rising action is most of the story. These are the events that lead up to the biggest part. There will often be multiple problems or conflicts throughout the rising action.
Climax: the part of the story where there is the biggest problem, or the problem gets to its biggest point. You can usually tell you're at the climax when it feels very suspenseful, and you just can't put the book down. The climax is usually close to the end of the story.
Falling action: after the climax, the story starts to calm down. The big problem is dealt with and the characters are settling down.
Resolution: the end of the story. The characters wrap up any loose ends and the reader find out how they end things.
Using text evidence
Using text evidence
In 5th grade, students are expected to use specific sentences from a text to support their answers. We can use the RACE Strategy to write a strong response using text evidence.
Example:
Question: Why did Señora Perez think that a story should be written about the sea monster?
Response:
Senora Perez wants to make a story about the monster so they can tell everybody that it is good before anybody starts thinking it’s bad. In the text, Senora Perez says, “We must make up a wonderful story about this sea monster, give it a name, make it a friendly monster, and then tell the world.” This shows that she wants the tourists to read the story and think the sea monster is friendly and they won’t be scared to come visit.
(Restate / Answer / Cite / Explain)
Character Traits
Character Traits
Conflict
Conflict
Conflict is a problem that a character (or real person) has. There are different types of conflict that people can have.
Person vs. Self:
Person vs. Self:
A girl feels guilty about cheating on her test.
Mrs. West had a really hard time deciding whether to sign her daughter up for Virtual Academy or not.
Person vs Person:
Person vs Person:
A married couple disagrees about the best way to budget their money.
A kid trips another kid in the cafeteria.
Person vs Nature:
Person vs Nature:
A family is stranded in a snowstorm.
Mrs. Wilcox's garage flooded when it rained.
Person vs Society:
Person vs Society:
A person is given a ticket for running a red light.
The law said that only certain people were allowed to vote.
Theme
Theme
Theme is a life lesson that you learn from a story. The author doesn't come right out and say the theme, so you have to infer the theme based on what happens in the story.
Ask yourself these questions:
How did the main character react to obstacles?
What important decisions did the character make?
How did the characters grow or change over the course of the story?
What did the characters learn?
The theme is a FULL sentence, not just a word.
Inferences
Inferences
When you make an inference, you use clues from the text and your background knowledge to figure out something the author hasn't directly told you.
You can make inferences from text and illustrations.
Example:
I can infer that the story is set in autumn because the character describes seeing red and yellow leaves falling from the trees. I know that the leaves change and fall in autumn.
Editing and Revising your writing
Editing and Revising your writing
Nonfiction text structures
Nonfiction text structures
Nonfiction texts can be organized in different ways based on what the text is about.
Problem & Solution: author describes a problem and ways to solve it
Descriptive: author provides details and characteristics about a topic
Proposition & Support: author states a claim and gives reasons/evidence to support it
Chronological: author describes the events or steps of a process in order
Cause & Effect: author explains an event and what happened as a result
Comparison: author explains how two things are similar/different
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