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English lesson plan · 5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 30 minutes

Point of view and narrator

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.5.6CCSS RL.6.6England: Y5/6 ReadingEngland: KS3 Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Point of view and narrator.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Characters and setting

Leads to: First, second or third person narrators; The effect of narrative perspective and tense

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Characters and setting). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Rex the dog hid under the table every time it thundered. How does Rex feel about thunder? (scared / happy / bored / brave) → scaredPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. Nora shared her crayons with the new girl. "You can use my blue one," she said. What word describes Nora? (scared / lazy / kind / mean) → kindPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  3. Bear yawned and stretched. "Time to sleep until spring," he said, and curled up in his cave. Who is the main character? (Bear / a bird / Spring / the cave) → BearPrompt: What does the character say and do?

Hook · 3 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Point of view and narrator. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Jake thought the test was easy. Amira, sitting next to him, was sure she had failed. Neither of them knew the teacher had lost the papers. What kind of narrator is this?
  • Step 1: Point of view is who tells the story and how much they know.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: third-person omniscient (knows everyone's thoughts)
  • Answer: third-person omniscient (knows everyone's thoughts)
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. I don't think my sister likes me. She slammed the door again today, but maybe she just had a bad day at school. Why might this narrator be unreliable? (We only see events through the narrator's guesses and feelings. / The story uses 'you'. / The narrator knows everything. / The narrator is a talking animal.) → We only see events through the narrator's guesses and feelings.Prompt: Who is telling the story? Look at the pronouns (I, we, he, she).
  2. You turn the key and push open the creaking door. You step inside and the air is cold. What point of view is used? (first person / no narrator / second person / third person) → second personPrompt: Who is telling the story? Look at the pronouns (I, we, he, she).

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. You turn the key and push open the creaking door. You step inside and the air is cold. What point of view is used? (first person / third person / no narrator / second person) → second personPrompt: Who is telling the story? Look at the pronouns (I, we, he, she).
  2. Jake thought the test was easy. Amira, sitting next to him, was sure she had failed. Neither of them knew the teacher had lost the papers. What kind of narrator is this? (third-person limited to Jake / third-person omniscient (knows everyone's thoughts) / second person / first person) → third-person omniscient (knows everyone's thoughts)Prompt: Who is telling the story? Look at the pronouns (I, we, he, she).

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Characters and setting.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: First, second or third person narrators; The effect of narrative perspective and tense.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-5.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Point of view and narrator

Name

Date

Score/ 6

My Grandmother's Hands

My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went. "This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters." Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move. These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.

  1. Question 1

    Read "My Grandmother's Hands". From whose point of view is the text written?

    • A. the baby brother
    • B. a narrator who is not in the story
    • C. the grandmother, in the first person
    • D. the grandchild, in the first person

Message in a Bottle (a poem)

I am a bottle, empty and light, tossed from a boat on a bright summer night. No note inside me, no secret to tell, just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell. The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide; it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide. A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine. I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine! I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few, I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you. But somebody somewhere could carry me back, a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack. So here is my message, though no one wrote it: the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.

  1. Question 2

    Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". Who is speaking in this poem?

    • A. a turtle
    • B. a fisherman
    • C. a plastic bottle
    • D. the ocean

  1. Question 3

    I don't think my sister likes me. She slammed the door again today, but maybe she just had a bad day at school. Why might this narrator be unreliable?

    • A. We only see events through the narrator's guesses and feelings.
    • B. The story uses 'you'.
    • C. The narrator knows everything.
    • D. The narrator is a talking animal.

  2. Question 4

    I grabbed my bag and sprinted for the bus. My heart was pounding. Would I make it? What point of view is used?

    • A. third person
    • B. no narrator
    • C. first person
    • D. second person

  3. Question 5

    Maria opened the letter slowly. She didn't know that her brother had already read it. What point of view is used?

    • A. third person
    • B. second person
    • C. no narrator
    • D. first person

  4. Question 6

    You turn the key and push open the creaking door. You step inside and the air is cold. What point of view is used?

    • A. no narrator
    • B. second person
    • C. third person
    • D. first person

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Answer key: Point of view and narrator

  1. 1. D. the grandchild, in the first person

  2. 2. C. a plastic bottle

  3. 3. A. We only see events through the narrator's guesses and feelings.

  4. 4. C. first person

  5. 5. A. third person

  6. 6. B. second person