4th Grade · Reading · RL.4.3

Story Elements Lesson Plan for 4th Grade

A ready-to-teach story elements lesson for 4th Grade, built around describing a character's traits from actions, words, thoughts and choices, explaining why a character acts and changes, and comparing two characters with details from the story. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 47 minutes

Learning objective

Name a character trait and the detail that shows it
Explain why a character acts or changes
Compare how two characters react to one problem

Materials

Character Traits From Actions in a Story About a Lost Puppy
Character Traits From Dialogue in a Spelling Bee Story
What a Character Wants in a Story About a Lemonade Stand
Why a Character Changes Her Mind in a Swim Test Story
How a Character Changes as the New Kid on the Team
Two Characters Face a Flat Tire on a Family Bike Ride
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Build the background (5 min)
Connect story elements to a book the class already finished. Prior knowledge is doing most of the work in comprehension, so spend the time here.
2. Read aloud and think aloud (I do) (10 min)
Read a short passage aloud and stop twice to narrate your own thinking about story elements. Students are learning the move, not the answer.
3. Guided practice (we do) (12 min)
Read a second passage together. This time students find the evidence and you record it. Push every answer back to the text with "what words told you that?"
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Character Traits From Actions in a Story About a Lost Puppy". Students read and answer on their own. Circulate and ask individuals to point to the line in the text that supports their answer.
5. Share and close (5 min)
Two or three students share an answer and the evidence behind it. Restate story elements one final time in the students' own words, not yours.

Check for understanding

Ask each student to point to the evidence in the text for one of their answers. A student who has the right answer but cannot find the line has not yet learned story elements.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild story elements with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own story elements problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand story elements.

Skills covered in this lesson

Character analysis

Questions teachers ask about teaching story elements

What does character analysis mean in 4th grade?

It means describing a character in depth with details from the text: what the character does, says and thinks (CCSS RL.4.3). A child should be able to name a trait, like patient or determined, and point to the sentence that shows it. Every sheet in this topic asks for exactly that.

What is the difference between a character's feelings and traits?

A feeling changes from moment to moment, like nervous before a swim test or proud after it. A trait is what the character is like inside most of the time, like brave or honest. Several sheets chart how a character feels at each point in the story, then ask how the character changes by the end.

How can I help my child find evidence for a character trait?

Ask what the character did, then ask what kind of person would do that. The chart on each sheet gives the quote and its paragraph number, so your child can focus on naming the trait. For the last question, have your child point to two sentences in the story before writing.

Do the 4th grade story elements worksheets have answer keys?

Yes. All 16 sheets have an answer key, with a sample answer for each chart row and the written question. The key also lists other answers to accept, since more than one trait word can fit.