Literature Study and Narrative Writing
Unit description: Students will analyze literary texts to identify and describe literary elements and text features and how they are used to develop the plot of a story. Students will craft their own narrative piece applying their understanding of literary elements and text features to develop their story.
Download the complete Grade 3 ELA Unit 3 framework to customize for your own planning.
Essential Outcomes of the Unit
Reading
- 3R1. Develop and answer questions to locate relevant and specific details in a text to support an answer or inference.
- 3R2. Determine a theme or central idea and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize portions of a text.
- 3R3. In literary texts, describe character traits, motivations, or feelings, drawing on specific details from the text.
- 3R5. In literary texts, identify parts of stories, dramas, and poems using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza.
- 3R7. Explain how specific illustrations or text features contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a text (e.g., create mood, emphasize character or setting, or determine where, when, why, and how key events occur).
Reading Foundations: Fluency
- 3RF4. Read grade-level text with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension
Language
- 3L1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of academic English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- 3L2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of academic English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing
- 3L4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
- 3L5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
- 3L6. Acquire and accurately use conversational, general academic, and content-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went out for dessert).
Writing
- 3W3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
- 3W4. Create a response to a text, author, theme, or personal experience (e.g., poem, play, story, artwork, or other).
Speaking and Listening
3SL1. Participate and engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse peers and adults, expressing ideas clearly, and building on those of others.
3SL2. Determine the central ideas and supporting details or information presented in diverse texts and formats (e.g., including visual, quantitative, and oral).
Other Standards Addressed in the Unit
See Reading Foundations Units: 3RF3 a-d
3R1, 3R2, 3R3, 3R4, 3R5, 3R7
3RF4
3L1, 3L2, 3L3, 3L4, 3L5, 3L6
3W3, 3W4
3SL1, 3SL2, 3SL3, 3SL6
Essential Questions and Big Ideas
- What is a plot, and why is it important?
- A plot is the sequence of events in a story or text
- Without a plot, there would be no events in a story
- How do authors develop their plot?
- Authors use text features and literary elements to develop plot
- Certain text features and literary elements can have different impacts on plot development
- What makes a quality narrative?
- Good writers organize their writing before they begin their first draft
- Quality narratives include a clear plot structure, using text features and literary elements to develop it
Download the complete Grade 3 ELA Unit 3 framework to customize for your own planning.