The third reading literature standard is all about characters and story elements. Understanding the characters, their actions, and their traits helps students improve their overall understanding of a story. Being able to describe the setting and events in a story is a prerequisite to more challenging skills, like writing summaries. Let’s look at the parts of this standard and how to teach your students about characters and story elements.
Breaking Down the Standard
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The first thing we need to do is to break down the standard at the different grade levels. It is really helpful to know what your students are expected to do in the grade level before yours and the grade level after yours. This allows you to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students.
For all of this information on one convenient page, head over to the Rock the Reading Workshop Facebook Group to download the Standard Quick Guide. They are available for grades 1-6.
First Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3 – Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
Important Skills to Teach:
- What characters are and how to describe them
- What settings are and how to describe them
- How to identify important events in a story
- How to look back in a story to find key details about the story elements
I Can Statements:
- I can describe the characters in a story.
- I can describe the settings in a story.
- I can describe the major events in a story.
- I can use key details to describe story elements.
Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Second Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 – Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Important Skills to Teach:
- How to identify major events in a story
- How to identify the challenges characters face in a story
- How to describe a character’s response to events in a story
- How to describe a character’s response to the challenges in a story
I Can Statements:
- I can describe how characters respond to major events in a story.
- I can describe how characters respond to the challenges in a story.
Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Third Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 – Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
Important Skills to Teach:
- What character traits are
- What motivations are
- How to identify character traits, motivations, and feelings
- How to sequence the events in a story
- How the character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events
I Can Statements:
- I can describe a character’s traits.
- I can describe a character’s motivations.
- I can describe a character’s feelings.
- I can explain how a character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events.
Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fourth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 – Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Important Skills to Teach:
- How to describe a character in a story or drama
- How to describe a setting in a story or drama
- How to describe an event in a story or drama
- How to identify a character’s thoughts, words, or actions
- How to use details in the text to describe a character, setting, or event
I Can Statements:
- I can describe a character in a story or drama.
- I can describe a setting in a story or drama.
- I can describe an event in a story or drama.
- I can use a character’s thoughts, words, or actions to describe the story elements.
Download a free week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a free digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fifth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3 – Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
Important Skills to Teach
- What it means to compare and contrast
- How to identify characters, settings, and events in stories and dramas
- How to identify interactions among characters in a story
- How to use specific details from the text to compare and contrast story elements
I Can Statements:
- I can compare and contrast two or more characters in a story or drama.
- I can compare and contrast two or more settings in a story or drama.
- I can compare and contrast two or more events in a story or drama.
- I can explain how the characters in a story or drama interact.
- I can use specific details in a text to explain how story elements are the same and different.
Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Suggested Books for Teaching Characters and Story Elements
You want to find books with strong characters to teach this standard. Both picture books and novels work well. I like to use picture books for my mini lessons, just because it’s easy to spread them out over one week. I read a small section each day to model and practice the standard. For grades 4 and 5, you will also need to practice identifying story elements in dramas. I like to use the play scrips from Stories to Grow By.
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother
Tips for Teaching Characters and Story Elements
- Practice during read aloud time. If you are reading a chapter book with your class, practice identifying the characters and story elements in that book. You can have your students find character traits for those characters and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. They can also compare and contrast characters, settings, and events between two different read alouds.
- Have your students practice identifying character traits of their classmates. If your students are struggling with identifying character traits of the characters in their books, have them think of character traits to describe their classmates. They can use word like “friendly,” “caring,” and “hard-working” to describe other students in the class and give evidence to support their choices. They can then apply this skill to find character traits of characters in their books.
- Use a plot organizer to help your students identify the story elements. In the lower grades, your students can draw pictures of the characters, setting and events. They can write words from the book to describe them. In the upper grades, your students can use an organizer to take notes about the story elements as they read. Then, they can use them to analyze the characters actions, describe the story elements in depth, or compare them.
Other Helpful Resources
If you have students who are struggling with this standard, strategy groups and one-on-one conferences are a great way to differentiate and help all your students master it. These assessments will show you which students have mastered the standards and which students need extra practice.
1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.
1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
For more tips on teaching the reading standards, join the Rock the Reading Workshop Facebook Group. Don’t forget to download your Standard Quick Guide while you’re there!
What Do You Think?
What are your best tips for teaching about characters and story elements in literature?
Let us know in the comments.
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