Patricia Wright

Mini Lesson
Story Structure- 3rd Grade

Stage 1: Pre- Reading

● Note: this is day 4 of fairytale week in class 301 so students already know about the
genre and were assessed on it
● Before the students come in I will copy the subjects on our schedule (Math, ELA, Lunch,
etc.) and use magnets to place them on the board in a random order (note all subjects are
written in both english and spanish for my ENLs). This will be on the right side of my
board. On the left side I will have a chart labeled beginning in the first column, middle in
the second and end on the third. This will be set up before the students arrive. Then I will
open up the lesson with a good morning message. “Good morning class! Today is
Wednesday April 15th 2020. The weather is feeling ____. Today we will be learning
about story structure. Let's start by organizing our day into the beginning, middle and
end. I will grab the gym subject and say “Looking at our schedule, does class 301 go to
gym at the beginning, middle or end of the day?” “How do you know?” I will repeat this
until all the subjects are categorized into beginning, middle or end.
● I will then introduce the book, ​Goldilocks and the Three Bears​. I will give a brief
description on the author’s story that has a plot, characters, setting and theme. These are
all called story elements which we will go over later (point of view will be the next
lesson). Moving forward, we will go over some vocabulary that is unfamiliar. I will have
those words written on the board already, and I will write in the correct definition as we
talk about them. The words will stay up on the board throughout the reading so we can
refer back.
● In order to engage the students, I will ask “Does anyone know anything about bears?”
After this brief discussion, we will begin reading.
o I will be using a youtube view of a read aloud of goldilocks and the three bears. I
felt the different voices, and visuals would help keep students more engaged as
well as help my ENL’s who have more visuals and can see the text more clearly
to help them in them.
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2M0QuLPZs
o While the story is happening students will be each handed strips of different
events in the story that they can put in order while the read aloud is taking place

Stage 2: Reading

● I will ask the a few questions using Bloom’s Taxonomy and relating back to story
elements throughout the text
o (1:10) “What is the ​setting​ of this story?”
▪ Elaborate with the students if necessary like “Where is the cottage
located?” “How did the author describe the cottage?” “What is the
 weather?” “Was the story taking place during the day or at night?” to let
the students no setting consist of many compets not just location
o (5:30),“Do you think Goldilocks should have gone into the cottage? Why or why
not?” “What does this tell us about our​ character ​Goldilocks?”
▪ Trying to introduce the idea for characters in the story taking a look at
actions to give the characters descriptions
o (7:22) “Do you think Goldilocks is a bad girl like she says she is why or why
not?”
o (11:14) “How does Mama Bear’s reaction differ from Baby Bear's reaction? What
does this tell us about the characters?”

Stage 3: Responding

● We will begin our grand conversation. I will ask students to talk with their partner next to
them about what they think is the very good lesson Goldilocks learned? (introduces
morals and theme)
● According to the students’ answers, I will ask “Who agrees with Student A and Student
B, why or why not?”

Stage 4: Exploring

● To further explore elements of Story structure by giving definitions of the words plot,
setting, characters, and theme
o First define plot. “Plot is a sequence of events involving characters throughout the
story”
▪ Sentence 1 (I Do):
● “For example, When I look at my event strips I think ‘Mama bear
made porridge’ should go at the beginning of my events because it
happened first in our story.”
▪ Sentence 2 (WE Do):
● I cannot figure out what should go next in our plot sequence.
Student C could you help me? What do you think should go next?”
▪ Sentence 3 (YOU do): ​Student D will be given a random strip and be
asked if it goes in the beginning middle or end of the story. How do they
know?
o Then define setting “Setting is the​ ​location, weather, time period and time that
pertains to the story.”
▪ Sentence 1 (I Do):
● “Let’s use our classroom right now as an example. I know we are
located on the 2nd floor in PS ____”
▪ Sentence 2 (WE Do):
● “How would you describe the classroom setting in terms of
weather?”
▪ Sentence 3 (YOU do):
● “What else can we say about the setting of our classroom?”
 o Refer to the other parts of setting if needed
o Then define characters Characters: people or personified animals in the story.
Characters are created in a story through their appearance, action, and what they
say.
▪ ​Sentence 1 (I Do):
● “​Let’s use me as an example. I would describe myself as a girl
with brown hair and blue eyes​”
▪ Sentence 2 (WE Do):
● “What else do you know about me from my appearance?”
▪ Sentence 3 (YOU do):
● “What else can we say about me as a character that does not have
to do with my appearance? Use actions or words to defend your
answer.”
o Then I would define theme as ​a main idea or an underlying meaning of a ​literary
work
▪ ​Sentence 1 (I Do):
● Since this week is fairytale week. I model the themes that were in
Little Red Riding Hood
▪ Sentence 2 (WE Do):
● Then together we will go over themes of another books we did this
week together
▪ Sentence 3 (YOU do):
● “Can you think of another book you read and what its theme was?”

Stage 5: Applying

● To apply what we learned today while reading and discussing ​Goldilocks and the Three
Bears. ​Each group will be given a worksheet that either discusses theme, character, or
setting.
● Group Blue: This will be my low students. These are the students who have struggled
with beginning, middle and end in the past. I will meet with this group to make sure they
got the sequence right for our story and we will have a discussion about the plot of the
story with beginning, middle end. After that discussion I will give them the setting
worksheet that has it bulleted out all the elements to look for with setting and a drawing
part to make it easier for my lows and allow ENLs to have a visual aid when answering
the question
● Group Yellow: This group would be my average students. They will be doing character
analysis. They will have to list all the characters in the book and then pick one character
and analyze them based on appearance, dialogue and actions. They will be allowed if
time permits to write if they like their character or not. This will allow them to further
analyze the characters traits and start getting into higher order thinking. I will assess them
during their presentation part at the end of class
● Group Red: This group will be my gifted students. They will be evaluating the theme.
They will be given a worksheet to discuss what they think the theme is of this story and
why using evidence from the text. After I meet with my lows I will go to this group so we
 can discuss the theme. This will give me a chance to continue to build up their
accountable talk as well as help them practice debating respectfully with each other
which will help as they move towards more nonfiction text.
All groups will come together at the end to discuss their story components
Blue Group: Setting
Name: ________________________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________________________
Book:_________________________________________________________
What is the setting? (use definition on the board)
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Draw a picture of the setting

What is the location of the setting?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
What is the weather of the setting?
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
During what time does the story take place?
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Yellow Group: Characters
Name: ________________________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________________________
Book:_________________________________________________________
What is a character? (use definition on the board)
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Directions: Pick one character from ​Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Name of character:________________________________________
Draw a picture of your character
How do you know about the
character's appearance? _____
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
Directions: Write a trait of the character, circle how you know this trait,
write evidence from the read aloud to support your answer

Trait of character__________________________________________
How do you know?

appearance action dialogue

Evidence__________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Trait of character__________________________________________
How do you know?

appearance action dialogue

Evidence__________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

Trait of character__________________________________________
How do you know?

appearance action dialogue

Evidence__________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Do you like this character? Why or why not? Use the traits you
made above to explain
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Red Group: Theme

Name: ________________________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________________________
Book:_________________________________________________________
What does theme mean? (use definition on the board)
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
​ se evidence
What is the theme of ​Goldilocks and the Three Bears? U
from the text to support your answer.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Directions: Once completed talk to your group using our
discussion sentence starters about the theme.
Sequence Cards
The rows are organized by beginning middle and end

Mama bear makes The bear family Goldilocks leaves

porridge goes for a walk her house

Goldilocks enters Goldilocks eats Goldilocks says

the bears’ house baby bear's she's a bad girl
porridge
The bears come Goldilocks runs Goldilocks
back from their away apologizes to her
walk mom