Your Literacy Standards Companion, Grades 3-5. Leslie Blauman

       3 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

       4 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

       5 Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

       3 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

       4 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

       5 Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.

       3 Gist: Students know the function of parts of a text (stories, dramas, and poems) and can use this knowledge to help them see how each progressive part builds on previous sections. In stories, they have a concept of beginning, middle, and end; they have a sense of chapters; and they are familiar with the function of stanzas in poetry and scenes in drama.

       What type of text is this?

       What is the story about?

       If I were to recount the story, which parts or chapters would I point to in describing the beginning, the middle, and the end?

       What happens in the first scene (drama)? How does each scene build on the one(s) before it?

       How do the scenes move the action in the drama forward?

       In poetry what is the main idea of the first stanza? How do the stanzas build on another to create meaning in the text?

       4 Gist: Students break down the structure of a text and explain the major differences between poems, drama, and prose. Students use specific terms to differentiate (poetry-verse, rhythm, meter; drama-casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) between texts.

       What type of text is this? (poetry, drama, or prose)?

       When I work to understand poetry, can I apply concepts like stanza, rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration to help me?

       When I read a play, how can I use my understanding of casts of characters, settings, dialogue, and stage directions to help me comprehend each scene?

       When I read prose, how can I use my understanding of introductions, flow of paragraphs, conclusions, word choice, and voice to enhance my understanding?

       Can I explain how poetry is different from drama or from prose using these terms? Can I explain how drama is different from the others?

       5 Gist: Students break down the structure of a text to explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas are organized and contribute to the development of the text.

       What type of text is this (poetry, drama, or prose)?

       How does the author build her story in each chapter to help me understand?

       What happens in the beginning chapters? How do they set up what happens in the next chapters and how do these develop the story for the chapters at the end?

       If this is drama, how do the scenes build on one another? What happens in the first scenes to set up the drama? How are the following scenes sequenced?

       If this is poetry, what is the main idea of the first stanza? How do the following stanzas help to develop the text? Why do I think they’re written in that particular sequence?

       3 Gist: Students locate information on a specific topic by using text features and search tools—key words, sidebars, hyperlinks—in