Literary Elements

I always like to review literary elements pretty early on in the year because we use it so much in our reading.  A BIGGIE for 5th graders is comparing characters, setting, and events in a single text and across multiple texts.  But, before we compare, I like to review first!  Although theme is part of literary elements, I like to save it until last because students seem to really struggle with it.  For this lesson, we reviewed character, setting, events, and plot.

First, I started off with making this adorable anchor chart!  We went over this during our whole group lesson on Monday.

As we went over it, I had the students record their notes on a simple cover page I attached to their packet I gave them for the week.

 Our packet includes pages from Jen Jones' Comprehension Strategy Sheets for Grades 3-6.  I LOVE this packet!  It is well worth every dime spent.  I use it any time I teach a standard.  It has the sheets organized by standard which is very time saving.  She also has an informational packet that I own, too!  Here's a two-page preview of the pages I use.  You should totally go check it out.  Our packet just for these four skills is about 10 pages.  And, since it includes standards 3-6, you can remediate or enrich as needed!  Score!

We work through this packet for the remainder of the week in whole and small groups.  We use our read aloud to complete the activities so we can all work together or with partners.

Before we moved on to talk about character traits that a specific character had, I introduced character traits with a character trait checklist that I found online.  Then, I use Leslie Ann's Character Trait Reading Passages to practice.  I also incorporate some writing about the characters and have the students support their writing with evidence from the text by using our evidence board.

Once we have mastered all these things we move on to theme and author's message.  We spent about 2 weeks on this unit.  Well worth the time!