Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure

URL:

http://readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/completing-circle-craft-circular-827.html

Content Source:

ReadWriteThink
Type: Lesson/Unit Plan

Overview:

After exploring a variety of circle plot storybooks, students identify, explore, and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories. "Reading like writers," students will explore the ways that stories are structured; then, "writing like writers," students explore organizational structures in their own writing. Students first examine the attributes of circular shapes and brainstorm things with a circular pattern, such as seasons. After exploring how Cynthia Rylant's Long Night Moon might be a circular story, students listen to a circle story read aloud. Students discuss why the story is called a circular story and make connections to Rylant's book. They then read several more examples and, using circle plot diagrams as their tools, students write their own circular plot stories. Finally, students share their work with peers, revise their work using a checklist for self-evaluation, and compare their self-evaluation to teacher assessment.

Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
R5. Utilize a writing process to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writings in various genres.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
2. Actively engage in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers to build background knowledge needed to be successful as they learn to read and, later, read to learn.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
3. Actively participate in teacher-led choral and shared reading experiences.

Examples: reciting nursery rhymes, songs, poems, stories
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
27. Identify and describe the main story elements in a literary text.

a. With prompting and support, retell a text orally, including main character(s), setting, and important events in logical order.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
28. With prompting and support, use text clues to determine main ideas and make predictions about an ending in a literary text.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: K
37. Actively participate in shared and independent writing experiences, for varied purposes and audiences, across different genres.

a. Actively participate in shared writing experiences to create messages, lists, and labels for a drawing or illustration.

b. Actively participate in shared writing experiences to create narratives with the events in chronological order and share feelings about the story, using drawing, dictating, and/or writing.

c. Actively participate in shared writing experiences to create opinion pieces about a topic or text, state the opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide a sense of closure, using drawing, dictating, and/or writing.

d. Actively participate in shared writing experiences to create explanatory texts or provide factual information about a topic, using drawing, dictating, and/or writing.

e. With prompting and support, compose writing for varied purposes and audiences, across different genres.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 1
R5. Utilize a writing process to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writings in various genres.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 1
2. Actively participate in shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions to build background knowledge and learn how oral reading should sound.

Examples: read-alouds, oral dramatic activities
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 1
23. Identify and describe the main story elements in a literary text.

a. Describe the characters and settings, using illustrations and textual evidence from a story.

b. Retell the plot or sequence of major events in chronological order.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 1
27. Make predictions using information found within a literary text.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 1
34. With prompting and support, write a narrative that recounts two or more appropriately sequenced events using transitions, incorporating relevant details, and providing a sense of closure.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 2
R5. Utilize a writing process to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writings in various genres.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 2
23. Identify the main story elements in a literary text.

a. Explain the plot of a narrative, using textual evidence to list the major events in sequence.

b. Describe the characters' traits, feelings, and behaviors in a story.

c. Describe the setting of a narrative, using textual evidence.

d. Identify the central message or moral of a story.

e. Identify the theme in myths, fables, and folktales.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 2
27. Identify the text structures within literary and informational texts, including cause and effect, problem and solution, and sequence of events.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 2
40. Write a personal or fictional narrative using a logical sequence of events, including details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings and providing a sense of closure.
Tags: circle plot, circular story, collaborate, Cynthia Rylant, Long Night Moon, readers, reading, revise, self evaluation, writers, writing
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Author: Cassie Raulston