Unit 8 — Tell Me a Story
Description
Students examine story structure, lessons, and character development through literature. They retell stories including key details and central messages, describe characters and settings, and identify narrative elements. Writing focuses on personal narrative. Phonics instruction covers long vowel patterns with oa, ow, oe, ie and r-controlled vowels ar. Students explore themes, make connections, and understand how stories convey lessons. Academic vocabulary includes amuse, entertain, and literature. The unit concludes with students writing personal narratives inspired by stories they have read.
Essential Questions
- What lessons can we learn from stories?
Learning Objectives
- Retell stories including key details and demonstrate understanding of central message or lesson.
- Describe characters, settings, and major events in stories using key details.
- Identify main topics and retell key details of informational texts.
- Know and use text features to locate facts or information.
- Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills.
- Write narratives recounting two or more appropriately sequenced events.
- Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns.
- Use frequently occurring prepositions.
- Demonstrate command of conventions of standard English.
- Sort words into categories to understand concepts.
Suggested Texts
- Chicken Little — folktale (week 1)
- Follow the Story Path — informational text (week 1)
- Interrupting Chicken — fantasy (week 1)
- Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree — fantasy (week 2)
- Little Red Riding Hood — drama (week 2)
- The Grasshopper & the Ants — fable (week 2)
- My Name is Gabriela — biography (week 3)
- Thank You, Mr. Aesop — informational text (week 3)
- The Tortoise and the Hare — video (week 3)
Supplemental Resources
- Printed word lists for long vowel patterns (oa, ow, oe, ie) and r-controlled ar
- Graphic organizers for story structure with character, setting, problem, solution sections
- Index cards for theme identification activities
- Sentence strips for building sentences with pronouns and prepositions
- Chart paper for recording story lessons and character traits
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Literature
Writing
Formative Assessments
- Text feature identification with narrative and informational texts
- Theme and character analysis activities
- Make connections between personal experiences and story events
- Elements of drama and inference activities
- Writing conferences during narrative drafting with dialogue
Summative Assessment
End of Unit Assessment; Write a personal narrative
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of story structure and character development through oral retelling with visual supports such as picture cards or story maps, or by arranging pre-made sentence strips in sequence to show understanding of key details and central message.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
During story retelling and character description activities, allow students to respond orally, through drawing, or by dictating their ideas to a teacher or aide rather than requiring written output. Provide visual supports such as simple story structure charts or picture-based graphic organizers to help students identify and sequence narrative elements like characters, settings, and events. For phonics work with long vowel patterns and r-controlled vowels, offer tactile or visual word-sorting tools and allow extended practice time before independent application. When students draft their personal narratives, support the writing process through scribed dictation, sentence frames, or voice-to-text tools so the focus remains on expressing a sequenced story rather than solely on handwriting mechanics.
Section 504
Provide preferential seating during read-alouds and storytelling discussions to minimize distractions and support listening comprehension. Allow extended time during phonics practice, retelling tasks, and the personal narrative writing process. Offer a print copy of any directions or story structure prompts displayed on the board so students can reference them independently throughout the unit.
ELL / MLL
Support comprehension of story elements and narrative vocabulary — including words like amuse, entertain, and literature — through illustrated word banks, picture-supported anchor charts, and repeated exposure in context before and during lessons. Use visual storytelling tools such as sequenced picture cards to help students retell story events and identify character traits without relying solely on English language production. When introducing phonics patterns such as long vowel spellings, pair sound-letter correspondences with familiar picture examples, and allow students to connect story themes or personal narrative topics to experiences from their home language and culture when possible.
At Risk (RTI)
Begin story retelling and character description tasks by activating students' prior knowledge through shared read-alouds and guided discussion before asking them to work independently. Use simplified story maps or visual retelling frames with picture prompts to help students identify key details, characters, and the central message at a manageable level of complexity. For the personal narrative, allow students to begin by drawing and orally telling their story in sequence before transitioning to any written component, building confidence and narrative understanding as entry points into the writing process. Provide additional small-group support during phonics instruction on long vowel patterns to reinforce decoding skills through repeated, hands-on word work.
Gifted & Talented
Challenge students to move beyond basic story retelling by analyzing how an author's character choices or narrative structure helps convey a deeper lesson or theme, and by comparing this craft across more than one story. In their personal narrative writing, encourage students to experiment with descriptive language, dialogue, and deliberate word choice to develop voice and engage a reader, rather than focusing only on sequencing events. Students may also explore how the phonics patterns introduced in this unit appear in more complex vocabulary found in the stories they read, deepening their understanding of how spelling patterns connect to meaning and usage across texts.