Reading stories and poems: word meaning, structure, and point of view (grade 3) · lesson

Who is telling it?

💡 Look for the word I to see if someone in the story or poem is the one telling it.

The narrator is the one who tells a story. In a poem, the one talking is called the speaker.

If the teller says I and me, the teller is in the story. If the teller says he, she, and they for everyone, the teller is outside the story.

Words inside talking marks do not count. A character can say I when talking. That does not make the character the teller.

🧠 Let's work it out

Read: Max ran to the bus. He waved at his friend.

What do you think comes next?

💡 Use the words around a word to work out what it means.

When you meet a new word, do not skip it. Read the sentence before it and the sentence after it.

Look at what the character says and does. A yawn shows someone is sleepy. A big grin shows someone is glad.

Some phrases mean more than their words. A character may say something that tells what she will do next time.

🧠 Let's work it out

Read: Lily was weary. She sat down and closed her eyes.

What do you think comes next?

💡 Some words paint a picture and are not meant to be true just as they say.

Literal words mean just what they say. The cup is blue is literal.

Nonliteral words make a picture in your mind. The car flew down the road does not mean the car had wings. It means it went very fast.

Writers also compare two things. The pillow was as soft as a cloud compares the pillow and a cloud. Both are soft and puffy.

🧠 Let's work it out

Read: The wind sang in the trees.

What do you think comes next?

💡 Stories are built from parts, and each part builds on the one before.

A story is made of parts. Each part tells one piece. The early part sets things up. A later part shows what happens because of it.

A poem is made of lines. The lines are put in groups. Each group is called a stanza. A blank space comes between stanzas.

A fable is a short story, often with animals. It ends by stating its lesson in one line, the moral, like: Be kind, and kindness comes back to you.

🧠 Let's work it out

Look at a poem with nine lines. There is a blank space after line three and after line six.

What do you think comes next?