Unit Plan 35 (Grade 1 ELA): Author Study – Voices & Point of View
Grade 1 literature unit: students identify who is telling the story using dialogue and pronoun clues, then compare how authors show characters’ adventures and voices across two stories.
Focus: Who is telling the story; compare author’s choices
Grade Level: 1
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Reading Literature • Speaking/Listening)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Authors make choices about who tells a story and how the voice sounds. This week, students will learn to identify the narrator/speaker at different points in a story, notice simple craft choices (repeated phrases, punctuation, dialogue), and compare how characters’ adventures/experiences are shown across two stories—often by the same author.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Identify who is telling the story (narrator or character) at various points using pronoun and dialogue clues (RL.1.6).
- Compare and contrast the adventures/experiences of characters across two stories by the same author or on a similar topic (RL.1.9).
- Share ideas in complete sentences during discussions and brief author talks (SL.1.6).
- Use a simple organizer to cite one text clue that supports their thinking.
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 1
- RL.1.6 Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
- RL.1.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
- SL.1.6 Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.
Success Criteria — student language
- I can point to a clue (I/me/my or he/she/they; “said/asked”; speech bubble) and tell who is talking.
- I can tell how two stories are the same/different in the characters’ adventures.
- I can speak in complete sentences: “The narrator is ___ because ___.” “Both stories show ___, but ___.”