STORYTELLING LESSON PLAN 1

Grade Level 3rd or 4th Grade

Time Two 45 minute class periods

Resources ● Seven Blind Mice​ ​by Ed Young

● The Story of Ruby Bridges​ ​by Robert Coles
● 3 ​photographs​ (each cut into 8 pieces, colored dot on the back
of each piece to know which pieces go together).
● Post-it notes and ​character chart​ (display on Smartboard).
● Ruby Bridges biography.com
● POV worksheet
● Sentence starters worksheet
● Book list (diversity)

Essential Questions ● How does point of view create bias?

● Why is it important to try and see things from other
perspectives?

Objective ● Students will be able to identify the points of view of different

characters in the story.
● Students will be able to hold in tension their own point of
view, as well as an opposing perspective.
(​CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.6​).

Prior Knowledge (day 1) ● Can you think of a time when you got into an argument or
​Seven Blind Mice disagreement with someone? What was your POV, what was
their POV? Was it hard for you to see it from their
perspective? How did it make you feel?

Introduction (day 1) ● Give each student one piece of the cut up ​photograph​ and ask
​Seven Blind Mice them to share what they think the photo is of.
● Students get into groups (based on colored dots on the back of
their photo piece) and assemble the whole picture.
● Whole class discussion comparing and contrasting the
experience of deciphering the photo alone versus having the
input of the whole group.
STORYTELLING LESSON PLAN 2

Activities (day 1) ● Read aloud ​Seven Blind Mice

​Seven Blind Mice ● Whole class discussion analyzing the different perspectives of
the mice. Whose perspective was right? Why was each mouse
so convinced they were right? How could they have known?

Practice (day 1) ● Assign each student a mouse and have them write two
​Seven Blind Mice sentences on a post-it note from that POV.
● Collect post-it notes and redistribute. Ask students to read the
POV and place it under the correct character on the ​character
chart​.
● Ask two students to role play and defend their point of view.
The class should be able to see how quickly the role play
escalated and turned into an argument.
● Discuss how they felt during the debate. Why did they feel
angry or frustrated?
● Have them role play again. This time the point isn’t to defend
their POV, but to learn as much as they can about the other
POV.

Prior Knowledge (day 2) ● What do we already know about segregation in the US? What
The Story of Ruby was the POV of the majority culture? What was the POV of
Bridges the minority culture?

Introduction (day 2) ● Have students sit in pairs, facing each other. They will each
The Story of Ruby have thirty seconds to describe what they see while facing
Bridges each other. They will be describing what is behind their
partner, something their partner cannot see.
● Quick class discussion about their differing perspectives.

Activities (day 2) ● Read aloud ​The Story of Ruby Bridges​.

The Story of Ruby ● Discuss the historical context of the book and segregation.
Bridges Further information about her life from
https://www.biography.com/activist/ruby-bridges​.
● Go back to the book and ask students to think about the
perspectives of each character (Ruby, Mom, angry mob,
Federal marshals, teacher). What might each of them be
thinking? How are they each seeing the situation differently?
Who is most like the mouse who sees the whole picture in this
STORYTELLING LESSON PLAN 3

story?

Practice (day 2) ● Students will do the ​POV worksheet​ which asks them to read
The Story of Ruby a perspective and then decide which character’s POV it is. Do
Bridges a few whole class, and then allow them to complete on their
own or in pairs.
● Go over answers. There will be differing answers.

Assessment ● Retell Ruby Bridges story from two different perspectives.

Sentence starters worksheet​ is available for students who need
a more concrete version of the assignment.

Amplification ● Students choose a book about diversity and write a summary

of the book from the main character’s POV. Then they write a
second summary from the POV of one of the supporting
characters.
● This could be done in Writer’s Workshop.
● Students use ​Sentence starters worksheet​ as needed.
● Book list (diversity)
STORYTELLING LESSON PLAN 4

References

Biography.com Editors. (2019). Ruby Bridges Biography. Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/activist/ruby-bridges​.

Coles, R. (1995).​ The story of Ruby Bridges.​ New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Ellis, D. (2018). 30 children’s books about diversity that celebrate our differences. Retrieved

from ​https://bookriot.com/2018/09/19/childrens-books-about-diversity/​.

English Language Arts Standards, Reading: Literature, Grade 3. (2019). Retrieved from

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/3/​.

Young, E. (1991). ​Seven Blind Mice​. New York, NY: Puffin Books.