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📘 You can already point

You can already point. A girl in a red shawl sits on a kitchen stool while a black cat watches and a bright figure with a wand steps in from the tiled wall — three someones before anyone reads a word. The girl is one. The visitor with the w

5
lessons
~25 min
to learn
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. Who is this?Identify characters as who the story was about, using the IES definition and Common Core K/1, and tell a someone from furniture in a picture.Cinderella, the fairy, the cat and Puss are characters. The dustpan, the throne and the meadow are not. Kindergarten points. Grade 1 adds a key detail.
  2. The place and the hourName a setting as where and when, from a tower, a real castle, a cottage or a frosty path, using the IES kindergarten clues.Setting is not only a room. It is the tower, the castle gate, the thatched house, and the winter morning. Grade 2 asks where and when as two of its key-detail questions.
  3. The thing that happensIdentify a major event, put events in sequence, and tell a beginning from an ending, using Year 2 sequence and Common Core K–2.Jack’s climb, the woman at the gingerbread door, and the coach are events. The pond is a resolution. Year 2 wants the order. Grade 2 wants the ending to conclude the action.
  4. All three at onceUse one illustration to name character, setting and event together, and know that IES lists seven elements while K–1 only require the first three names.Rackham’s Rapunzel and Kubel’s sleeping guard carry all three in one frame. Seven pockets exist. Today you only have to fill who, where, and what.
  5. What they do when it happensDescribe how a character responds to a major event or challenge, using Grade 2 RL.2.3 and Year 2 cause and effect.Jack goes down because the giant came. The princess keeps a promise and the frog sits at the table. Tonight, name who, where, and what, then notice the next move.

Questions this course answers

The IES practice guide says characters are which of these?

Table 5 of the IES K–3 reading-comprehension practice guide defines characters as who the story was about. The worked example is Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, and the wolf — not the basket and not the trees.

Match each story piece to the IES or Common Core name for it.

IES Table 5: characters are who; setting is where and when; plot or action is what happened. Common Core K and Grade 1 name the same three: characters, settings, and major events. Grade 2 adds when to the who-what-where list.

Put these moves in the order you actually name the three pieces from a picture.

The IES kindergarten clues start with when and where, who, what happened, and how did the story end. Common Core Grade 1 then lets the illustration carry character, setting, or events. Naming who and where first gives the event somewhere to stand.

Finish the Grade 2 line.

RL.2.3 is describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. Year 2’s English notes say the same hinge as cause and effect: what has prompted a character’s behaviour. Jack goes down because the giant came.

The IES table of narrative structure lists how many elements, from characters through theme?

Table 5 lists seven: characters, setting, goal, problem, plot or action, resolution, and theme. Kindergarten is asked to start with four simpler clues. Today you only have to own the first three names: who, where, and what.

In the IES table, setting means which of these?

Setting is where and when the story happened. The IES example is the forest and Grandmother’s cabin, during the day. During the day is the when hiding in the line. Common Core Grade 2 asks where and when as two of its key-detail questions.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • Common Core State Standards, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3 — with prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. RL.K.7 — with prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). RL.K.9 — with prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories. RL.1.3 — describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. RL.1.7 — use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. RL.2.1 — ask and answer who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details. RL.2.3 — describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL.2.5 — describe the overall structure of a story, including how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. RL.2.7 — use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/ and https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/1/ and https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/2/
  • Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study — Year 1 reading comprehension: becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics; discussing the significance of the title and events; making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done. Year 1 non-statutory: role play can help pupils to identify with and explore characters; by listening, pupils begin to understand how written language can be structured, for example to build surprise in narratives. Year 2: discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related; becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales; non-statutory notes on cause and effect in narrative (what has prompted a character’s behaviour). Years 3 and 4 reading: drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. Years 3 and 4 writing: in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
  • Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010), Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4038), Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. Recommendation 2 (moderate evidence): teach students to identify and use the text’s organizational structure. Students comprehend and remember content better when they recognise structure; understanding how stories are organised helps them distinguish major and minor events and predict how a story might unfold; a sense of structure can begin in kindergarten. How to carry it out: model and explain the aspects that give every story meaning and shape; teach structure first through familiar stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood; for kindergarten, simpler clues (When and where? Who? What happened? How did the story end?). Table 5, Elements of structure in a narrative text (from Baumann and Bergeron 1993, Morrow 1996, Pressley et al. 1990): Characters — who the story was about; Setting — where and when the story happened; Goal; Problem; Plot or Action — what happened; Resolution — how the problem was solved and how the story ended; Theme(s). https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/readingcomp_pg_092810.pdf
  • Department for Education, The reading framework (updated July 2023) — children learn how stories start and finish, and how a plot unravels and is resolved; they learn that books can transport them elsewhere. Guidance for primary schools on meeting existing expectations for teaching reading, including story structure as part of early comprehension. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/664f600c05e5fe28788fc437/The_reading_framework_.pdf

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