Curriculum that teaches setting, plot, moral of the story, etc. (grade 1 level)?

[pitterpatter]

Not necessarily looking for full-blown curriculum, just a fun little resource book or something that I can use to teach DD about setting, plot, characters, moral of the story, etc. I need something on about the grade 1 level that doesn't involve a lot of writing. Secular, please.

 

Any suggestions?

[In the Rain]

Not trying to be snarky, but do you need a resource? With my young kids, I talked about those types of things as they came up. It was very informal, but they definitely learned the terms and how to identify story elements. We often compared books aloud.

[pitterpatter]

LOL! I just like something to follow so I know I'm not forgetting anything. Actually, what I'm really looking for is more activity-based. I have a Mailbox magazine yearbook that has a setting activity in it for If You Take Your Mouse to School. There is a reproducible with some chocolate chip cookies drawn on it with story-related questions on them. DD answered the questions and then we discussed the setting. DD then drew a picture of the setting and made a thumbprint picture of a mouse on it. I'm looking for something similar to that. She loves that kind of thing. I know I can just tell her, but I try to make it as fun as possible. :001_smile:

 

 

Not trying to be snarky, but do you need a resource? With my young kids, I talked about those types of things as they came up. It was very informal, but they definitely learned the terms and how to identify story elements. We often compared books aloud.

Edited January 13, 2012 by pitterpatter

[choirfarm]

Please, please don't do this. Just read and enjoy books. You can ask about what happened in the story. Tada..that is plot. Moral of the story??? For a 1st grader???!!!!! See theme isn't really about moral. I'm trying to unteach this with my literary analysis class. But I digress. DO NOT DO LITERARY ANALYSIS with someone this small. Reading should be fun. You can talk about the stories but in a fun way. Please, please, please don't do anything formal!!!!!

[pitterpatter]

We do read and enjoy books. DD loves books, stories, fables, all of it. I've read to her since birth. As a result, books/stories are one of her passions. We do four subjects for school...reading, writing and math daily, plus a fourth subject that we rotate (science, social studies, art, Bible stories, and occasionally a little secular literature study). I'm trying to get more organized and plan out everything for a month or two at a time. I'm just wanting a little something with more substance for literature...something to do once every week or two. The previously mentioned setting lesson went over so well, I'm looking for more that is similar. Seems like it would benefit her in regard to reading/listening comprehension.

 

DD loves school. She usually asks every morning whether today is a day we do school. When I say yes, she says yippee! I know, she's an odd child...she'd rather eat vegetables over cake and pie any day. She likes this kind of thing, so I'm trying in indulge her.

 

 

Please, please don't do this. Just read and enjoy books. You can ask about what happened in the story. Tada..that is plot. Moral of the story??? For a 1st grader???!!!!! See theme isn't really about moral. I'm trying to unteach this with my literary analysis class. But I digress. DO NOT DO LITERARY ANALYSIS with someone this small. Reading should be fun. You can talk about the stories but in a fun way. Please, please, please don't do anything formal!!!!!

[MadsandLilysMom]

Five in a Row covers all of those talking points and more. The teachers manual has really helped *me* learn how to dive into the picture book and share that with my girls. We start every school morning cuddled on the couch with our FIAR book. We spend 5-10 minutes talking about one or two points from the teachers manual and some days we do other hands on activities as well. Five in a Row has a forum as well if you want other ideas.

 

ETA: Five in a Row can be a full blow curriculum, but we do not use it as such. We use the books as our literature component of our HS. We cover math, phonics, history, art and music as separate subjects.

Edited January 13, 2012 by MadsandLilysMom

[Amy Jo]

Five in a Row is very gentle, fun and brings up literary stuff. It also has other ideas as well and the books are great.

 

Bravewriter has resources as well, I recommend reading this series: Bravewriter Lifestyle

[EKS]

Is she reading fluently at a 3rd grade level? If not, I'd focus on that first.

[Mommy_of_4]

I agree with PP that said FIAR. I looked into it a year or so ago for DS but it is not his style. I am with you on DC asking for school. DS asks the moment he wakes up.

[blessedmom3]

Every year from March-May , my dc go back to school .As a result, I try to follow PS way of doing things beside our literature program. For my 1st grader, I use end enjoy , MCP Comprehension Plus B ( grade 2 ). It's only 5-10 min/day and it includes plot, main idea&details, compare&contrast ,inference, author purpose , setting, point of view, creative writing, vocabulary & much more. It's short, colourful and has interesting stories. My son loves it .

 

http://rainbowresource.com/product/Comprehension+Plus+Level+B+Student/023265/fe5ea5da532d8f108cc4df65?subject=6&category=9717

 

PS We do most questions orally and my son likes to write so we do most of the writing prompts too.

Edited January 13, 2012 by blessedmom3

[ladydusk]

As mom, you might consider Teaching The Classics and Deconstructing Penguins. These are resources that help you learn how to discuss literature with your pupil(s).

[pitterpatter]

Ok, I'm listening this time. LOL! I've not looked much in FIAR because we don't need curriculum for math, science and social studies. I'll check into it again for the LA component. Thanks!

 

Five in a Row covers all of those talking points and more. The teachers manual has really helped *me* learn how to dive into the picture book and share that with my girls. We start every school morning cuddled on the couch with our FIAR book. We spend 5-10 minutes talking about one or two points from the teachers manual and some days we do other hands on activities as well. Five in a Row has a forum as well if you want other ideas.

 

ETA: Five in a Row can be a full blow curriculum, but we do not use it as such. We use the books as our literature component of our HS. We cover math, phonics, history, art and music as separate subjects.

[pitterpatter]

I think this a little more than we need at the moment, but I just bookmarked it. Going to read up more on it a little latter. Thank you for the recommendation. :001_smile:

 

Five in a Row is very gentle, fun and brings up literary stuff. It also has other ideas as well and the books are great.

 

Bravewriter has resources as well, I recommend reading this series: Bravewriter Lifestyle

[pitterpatter]

Not quite as activity-based as I was thinking, but I'm digging it. Hah!

 

Any clue what the teacher's guides have in them? I'm going to try to dig up a better sample than what's on Rainbow Resources' site.

 

Thank you so much for posting. I'm adding it to my short list.

 

I bought this from Scholastic's current ebook sale and want to use it at some point, but I think DD needs an introduction to literary elements before diving into it. Your suggestion may fit the bill. :001_smile:

 

 

Every year from March-May , my dc go back to school .As a result, I try to follow PS way of doing things beside our literature program. For my 1st grader, I use end enjoy , MCP Comprehension Plus B ( grade 2 ). It's only 5-10 min/day and it includes plot, main idea&details, compare&contrast ,inference, author purpose , setting, point of view, creative writing, vocabulary & much more. It's short, colourful and has interesting stories. My son loves it .

 

http://rainbowresource.com/product/Comprehension+Plus+Level+B+Student/023265/fe5ea5da532d8f108cc4df65?subject=6&category=9717

 

PS We do most questions orally and my son likes to write so we do most of the writing prompts too.

[pitterpatter]

Thanks! Going to see whether I can order these from our library tomorrow. :001_smile:

 

As mom, you might consider Teaching The Classics and Deconstructing Penguins. These are resources that help you learn how to discuss literature with your pupil(s).

[Aurelia]

I'm not sure if it has what you need, but you might look at Peak with Books.

[usetoschool]

Not a program, just a cute little book that talks about the elements of a good story - Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One by Kate Duke.

 

Scholastic and Evan-Moor also have some guides for projects to go along with picture books and genres.

Edited January 13, 2012 by jcooperetc

[Harriet Vane]

If you really, really, really want to do those lessons, I'd probably steer you towards Five In a Row or BraveWriter.

 

However.

 

For whatever it is worth, I have a degree in English and have taught several groups of kids literature and/or writing over the years. Don't want to come across as know-it-all, especially since each child is different, but just letting you know where I am coming from.

 

I think it's not only fine but really great to focus in the younger years on exposure to many types of literature and just gentle discussion. Use the process of narration to reinforce reading comprehension and also to teach the child to identify the main points of a reading selection.

 

Then, in junior high, consider a curriculum like Lightning Literature (Hewitt), which has a fabulous literature selection and great instruction in the literary elements. They are able to pick it up at that age quickly and easily.

[pitterpatter]

Thanks for your insight!

 

While I teach DD reading, handwriting and math to master, the fourth subject that we do each day is just to give her a general broad range of knowledge. I don't really expect for her to remember every last thing. I just want her have a basic introduction. She does have a pretty good memory, though. Sometimes, she'll talk about obscure things from when she was two or three and DH and I will look at each other and go :001_huh:. Is she really remembering that?

 

We already read to hear a lot during other times of the day, so during our school time, I want to dive a little deeper.

 

 

If you really, really, really want to do those lessons, I'd probably steer you towards Five In a Row or BraveWriter.

 

However.

 

For whatever it is worth, I have a degree in English and have taught several groups of kids literature and/or writing over the years. Don't want to come across as know-it-all, especially since each child is different, but just letting you know where I am coming from.

 

I think it's not only fine but really great to focus in the younger years on exposure to many types of literature and just gentle discussion. Use the process of narration to reinforce reading comprehension and also to teach the child to identify the main points of a reading selection.

 

Then, in junior high, consider a curriculum like Lightning Literature (Hewitt), which has a fabulous literature selection and great instruction in the literary elements. They are able to pick it up at that age quickly and easily.

[Mrs Twain]

I use Evan Moor's How to Report on Books:

http://www.evan-moor.com/Product.aspx?CurriculumID=2&SeriesID=74&TitleID=285

 

There are different grade levels. It has a lot of activities and is easy to implement.

[littlebug42]

I'm not sure if it has what you need, but you might look at Peak with Books.

 

This is what I was going to recommend.

 

http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/curriculumPreschool.asp

[5Wizards]

I haven't used this, but it looks like something that may interest you.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Story-Elements-Favorite-Grades/dp/059076988X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1IM4VAPUGTXV&colid=3SYU04RW1YH8Z

[Beach Mom]

You might like First Favorites from Veritas Press. It has gentle activities related to some great stories. I used it with my DS

http://www.veritaspress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=000705

 

There are a couple of other volumes as well.

[lakshmi]

I'd second Peak with Books.

 

But Moving Beyond the Page has this type of stuff spread out between all their early levels.

 

We just did character in 5-7 and how the character changed.

 

In 7-9 LA, Unit 1 , Tornado, we talked a lot about different aspects of writing and story. Climax, problem, resolutuion. And as far as I could tell the activities were fun. It did have a lot of writing, but it is the level that starts to stress paragraph writing!

 

Good luck finding stuff, but like one previous poster stated, I wouldn't really delve into formal analysis. Just talk about it with the books you read.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

As mom, you might consider Teaching The Classics and Deconstructing Penguins. These are resources that help you learn how to discuss literature with your pupil(s).

 

:iagree: I just recently started a parent-child book club based on Deconstructing Penguins and Teaching the Classics. It is fun for the kids because it is a party and we are all having fun and discussing together. We only do it once a month, so it isn't like they are constantly having to do literature analysis, but it gets them comfortable with thinking about books in a new way and introduces them to the vocabulary. So far, we have spent four months reading picture books aloud at the meeting and then talking about them. It's a low-pressure situation, and everyone seems to really enjoy it.

[Hunter]

Are you looking for workbook pages developed for specific books?

 

I think others here have shared their personal opinions on teaching literary analysis to a first grader. I'm sure you have digested their help.

 

But, now what exactly are you looking for? Be brave and honest, and you don't have to justify it.

 

One of the most helpful things I have ever been told is that it is one of my human rights to be wrong and do it anyway. Other human rights are to make mistakes and change my mind.

 

What information exactly are you looking for?

 

I like the chapter on reading, in Writing Road to Reading. Spalding believes in teaching lit analysis to 1st graders.

[morosophe]

I use Evan Moor's How to Report on Books:

http://www.evan-moor.com/Product.aspx?CurriculumID=2&SeriesID=74&TitleID=285

 

There are different grade levels. It has a lot of activities and is easy to implement.

 

:iagree:

 

This is what I use, too, and it sounds exactly like what you want. The level I use doesn't cover "the moral of a story," but since the knotty issue of theme can be difficult for college lit majors to tangle with, that may be just as well. (I was a college lit major, and I know whereof I speak.) I just wrote a really long list of what it does cover, and then realized that you can, in fact, see the table of contents from the link I gave you.

 

The book is made up of perforated pages you are meant to tear out and copy. To help keep my pages neat despite my small children, I went ahead and bought a binder and use page protectors for my torn-out pages, and that's worked perfectly well.

[Hunter]

Did you check out the $1.00 sale at Scholastic

 

http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/dollardeals?p=1&product_type=269&subject=265

[give_me_a_latte]

Have you seen this series?

 

Basic Skills

 

That one is for grades 1-2 and covers story elements and comprehension. If you look down at the "what other customers bought" it has links to other titles that cover summarizing, cause & effect, etc.

[VA6336]

I have little ones, too, and have really appreciated going through Teaching the Classics. It has helped me ask good leading questions. No writing at all unless you want there to be. You use the books you want to use in your regular studies, this just gives you ideas of how to lead the child to dig deeper than the surface (as deep or as shallow as you want/need to). I agree with choirfam that it doesn't need to be super formal literary analysis at this age and that's definitely not what we do. Most of our discussions are while the kids are retelling (narration) and I'm just asking questions. :001_smile: It's usually fun, and when it becomes laborious, we stop!

[angela in ohio]

FIAR is almost exactly what you are looking for: fun activities to do with your dd after reading a book. You could also look for the other Mailbox books; they contain many of the activities from the monthly magazine. You can also look for books aimed at elementary teachers and librarians. TCM (Teacher Created Materials) has many. And definitely get yourself Teaching the Classics; now is the time to teach yourself the skills you will need to teach your dc as they grow.

 

There is nothing wrong with doing a fun activity based on the book you are reading. When my dc were in PreK-2, I made a list of all the wonderful picture books I wanted them to read, and then I found activities to go wtih them from EnchantedLearning.com, FIAR, and other resources. I found a lot of ideas online. We would also read some non-fiction books that related to the book (gardening books for The Carrot Seed, rabbit books for The Velveteen Rabbit, etc.) And they would do a "report." Sometimes it was a cartoon of the story, sometimes it was telling the story from another character's view, and so on. My dc are insatiable and very capable readers now, and they still talk about their fond memories of learning about those books. :001_smile: I teach English classes, and I wish more students had experience (and enjoyment in) discussing books.

Edited January 14, 2012 by angela in ohio

[Sahamamama]

http://www.evan-moor.com/Product.aspx?CurriculumID=5&ClassID=297&SeriesID=102