Story Grammar Hammer Time!
Reading to Learn
Rationale: According to Pressley, struggling readers may not possess knowledge
of story grammar structures. If readers are given instruction in story grammar
structure, and its use, their comprehension and memory will improve. In other
words, children do not know how to point out the important parts of a story.
When modeled and guided in how to set up story structure, to find important
points in the story, they will learn how to do this independently. This can
become a strategy that they can use independently when reading stories, to help
them build comprehension. I will use story grammar structure to show students
how to pinpoint important parts of the story. I will tell what type questions to
ask in order to find the important points in the story.
Materials:
1)
Overhead projector
2)
Overhead transparencies of
The Little Pink Rose and The Little Red
Hen
3)
Transparency markers
4)
2 pieces of graph paper with
examples of own questions referring to story grammar areas
5)
Copy of practice short story
The Little Red Hen
for each student
6)
Copy of the story
The Hare and The Tortoise for each
student
7)
Notebook paper and pencil for
each student
Procedure:
1)
Teacher will introduce the
concept of story grammar to students. I will say
today we are going to learn about story
grammar. Story grammar is an important part of reading. It tells us things about
the story that is important. It helps us find out who the story is about, what
the problem is, and who solves the problem. It helps us to better understand a
story's characters and what is happening in the story.
2)
Teacher will place a
transparency of the short story The
Little Pink Rose on the overhead projector.
3)
Teacher will read the short
story aloud to the class and then model for students, the components of using
story grammar. Teacher will think out
loud during the modeling of story grammar. Teacher should be sure to make
the instruction of each story component highly interactive with clear
demonstration and use of examples. Think aloud as you read to the class to
demonstrate how you arrive at your conclusion. Here is the story:
The Little Pink Rose
Once there was a little pink
Rosebud, and she lived down in a little dark house under the ground.
One day she was sitting there, all by herself, and it was very still.
Suddenly, she heard a little TAP, TAP, TAP, at the door.
Who is that? she said.
It's the Rain, and I want to come in;
said a soft, sad, little voice.
No, you can't come in, the little
Rosebud said.
By and by she heard another little
TAP, TAP, TAP on the window pane.
Who is there? she said.
The same soft little voice
answered, It's the Rain, and I want to
come in!
No, you can't come in, said the
little Rosebud.
Then it was very still for a long
time. At last, there came a little
rustling, whispering sound, all around the window: RUSTLE, WHISPER, WHISPER.
Who is there? said the little
Rosebud.
It's the Sunshine, said a little,
soft, cheery voice, and I want to come in!
N--no, said the little pink rose,
you can't come in.
And she sat still again.
Pretty soon she heard the sweet
little rustling noise at the key-hole.
Who is there?
she said.
It's the Sunshine, said the cheery
little voice, and I want to come in, I
want to come in!
No, no, said the little pink rose,
you cannot come in.
By and by, as she sat so still,
she heard TAP, TAP, TAP, and RUSTLE, WHISPER, RUSTLE, all up and down the window
pane, and on the door, and at the key-hole.
WHO IS THERE? she said.
It's the Rain and the Sun, the Rain and
the Sun, said two little voices, together,
and we want to come in!
We want to come in! We want
to come in!
Dear, dear! Said the little Rosebud,
if there are two of you, I s'pose I shall
have to let you in.
So she opened the door a little wee
crack, and in they came. And one
took one of her little hands, and the other took her other little hand, and they
ran, ran, ran with her, right up to the top of the ground.
Then they said,--
Poke your head through!
So she poked her head through; and she
was in the midst of a beautiful garden.
It was springtime, and all the other flowers had their heads poked
through; and she was the prettiest little pink rose in the whole garden!
4)
After reading the short
story, teacher will use the graph paper posted up in front of the class on the
board, next to the projected image of the story, to write down each component of
story grammar so that the class can see the modeling. Teacher will underline the
answers to her own questions as she reads it aloud so that students can see
exactly where she found the information from the story. Teacher will say
now that I have read my story, first I
ask myself, who is important in this story? What kind of personality or mood are
these people in? I think the little pink rose, the rain, and the sun are all
important in this story. The little pink rose seems scared, the rain seems to be
sweet and shy, and the sun seems happy and cheerful. Now, I ask myself, what is
the problem in this story? The problem seems to be that the little pink rose
will not let the rain or the sun come in when they knock. Who solves the problem
and how do they solve it? The sun and the rain solve the problem by joining
together to knock on the window. The little pink rose lets them in since they
both came and knocked together. What is this story telling readers or what is
the purpose of the story? I think that it is showing that team work is a good
thing because the rain and the sun teamed up to get the little pink rose to let
them in and the story has a good ending result because the little pink rose
ended up becoming the prettiest rose in the whole garden.
5)
Now
that the teacher has modeled how to use story grammar, teacher will distribute
copies of the short story The Little Red
Hen to each student.
6)
Explain to students that we
are going to read this story together as a class. We will read the story, and
then we will generate questions to find out who is important? What kind of
people are in the story? How do they act? What is the problem in the story? Who
solves the problem? How is the problem solved? What is the purpose or message of
the story telling its readers?
7)
Class reads the story:
The Little Red Hen
The little Red Hen was in the
farmyard with her chickens, when she found a grain of wheat.
Who will plant this wheat?
She said.
Not I said the Goose.
Not I said the Duck.
I will, then, said the little Red
Hen, and she planted the grain of wheat.
When the wheat was ripe she said,
who will take this wheat to the mill?
Not I said the Goose.
Not I said the Duck.
I will, then, said the little Red
Hen, and she took the wheat to the mill.
When she brought the flour home
she said, who will make some bread with
this flour?
Not I said the Goose.
Not I
said the Duck.
I will, then, said the little Red
Hen.
When the bread was baked, she
said, who will eat this bread?
I will said the Goose
I will said the Duck
No, you won't,
said the little Red Hen. I shall eat it
myself. Cluck! Cluck!
And she called her chickens
to help her.
8)
Now that we have read the
story together as a class, the teacher will post the second piece of graph paper
on the board next to the projected story of
The Little Red Hen. Teacher will
underline parts of the story on the projection as the students respond. Teacher
will say let's complete our story grammar
questions. Who is important in this story? Students respond-
Little Red Hen, Goose, and Duck. Teacher will fill in the graph paper with
the help of responses from students. Teacher asks
what is the personality of each of these
characters? Students' respond- Little
Red Hen is nice and generous, but Goose and Duck seem lazy and rude. Teacher
asks, what was the problem in the story?
Hen asks others for help doing things in a way, but no one wants to help Hen.
Who solves the problem? Hen solves the problem.
How does Hen solve the problem? She does things for herself since no one
else seems to want to help. What is the
purpose of this story or what is it trying to tell readers?
At the end of the story, after all of
Hen's hard work, there is bread grown as the result. No one helped Hen during
the whole process of growing the bread and getting it ready to eat. Finally,
when it is done, Goose and Duck decide they want to eat the bread, but they did
not want to help make it. Hen says, no, I don't think so, I will eat it myself
and my chickens may have some. So, if you don't help others, don't expect them
to help you. You should treat people as you want them to treat you. Great job!
You all have now learned how to use story grammar.
9)
Okay boys and girls, now that
you have seen how I use story grammar and you all have used it with me, now you
are ready to use your own story grammar.
10)
Teacher will distribute
copies of The Hare and The Tortoise.
11)
Teacher says:
Before we read this story, first I want
you all to understand that vocabulary is an important part of reading. You must
know the meaning of certain words in order for the story to make sense.
Vocabulary plays a big part in giving a story meaning.
12)
Teacher will write the
vocabulary on the board along with the definition of each. Teacher explains to
students each word and the meaning of each word as she writes them on the board.
Vocabulary:
boasting- to praise oneself.
forth- forward, onward.
challenge- an invitation to
compete in a sport.
darted- to move suddenly or
rapidly, fast.
goal- the mark set as limit
to a race, end of race.
13)
Teacher gives simple meanings
of words and uses each word in a sentence. Teacher provides sample questions
using the word.
The girl who always wins the
beauty pageant enjoys boasting to
her friends.
Does
boasting mean to be happy about
oneself? Does boasting mean to be
nice to others?
14)
Teacher reviews each
vocabulary word and its meaning with students.
15)
Teacher will give a brief
book talk: This book is about a Hare who
brags about always winning races. The Hare thinks that he can beat anyone in a
race. He dares someone to challenge him to a race. The Tortoise decides to race
the Hare…… I wonder what happens
next. Will Hare beat Tortoise?
16)
Teacher explains:
Now I want you to read the story, The
Hare and The Tortoise, independently. After reading the story I want you to use
story grammar to help narrow down the story to the important parts, just as we
had done earlier. You can write you story grammar on a piece of notebook paper.
You can use the questions that I have up on the board if you get stuck on what
questions to ask yourself about the story.
Assessment:
17)
During independent work time,
teacher will call each student up individually and have them read a short story
and then use story grammar to tell about the important parts of the story. I
will have students tell me what type questions they asked themselves. I will use
a checklist to evaluate self asked questions.
References:
Illustrated short stories for kids. byGosh.com. November 5, 2011.
http://bygosh.com/kidsstories.htm.
Illustrated short stories for
kids. byGosh.com. November 5, 2011. The Little Red Hen.
http://bygosh.com/Features/072000/redhen.htm
Illustrated short stories for
kids. byGosh.com. November 5, 2011. The Little Pink Rose.
http://bygosh.com/Features/082000/pinkrose.htm
Pressley, Michael. The
Elementary School Journal. Strategies That Improve Children's Memory and
Comprehension of Text. C. 1989.