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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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: R5. Writing process Plan Draft Revise Edit Publish Genres Knowledge: R5. Students know: The writing process steps are to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish. Various genres of writing. Skills: R5. Students are able to: Plan writings in various genres. Draft writings in various genres. Revise writings in various genres. Edit writings in various genres. Publish writings in various genres. Understanding: R5. Students understand that: The writing process is a set of steps that make writing easier. There are different categories, or genres, of writing that can be used for different purposes.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 2. Actively engage Teacher-led reading experiences Collaborative discussions Background knowledge Peers Knowledge: 2. Students know: How to engage in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers to build background knowledge. Skills: 2. Students are able to: Build background knowledge by actively engaging in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers. Understanding: 2. Students understand that: They need to build background knowledge to be successful as they learn to read and read to learn. They need to actively engage in teacher-led reading experiences and discussions with peers to build their background knowledge.
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 Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 3. Actively participate Choral reading Shared reading Knowledge: 3. Students know: How to actively participate in teacher-led choral and shared reading experiences. Skills: 3. Students are able to: Actively participate in teacher-led choral and shared reading experiences. Understanding: 3. Students understand that: Actively participating in choral and shared reading activities helps them build their background knowledge and improve their reading fluency, so they can become fluent readers.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 27. Identify Describe Characters Settings Important events Literary text 27a. Retell Text Orally Main character(s) Setting Events Logical order Prompting Support Knowledge: 27. Students know: Main story elements in a literary text. 27a. Techniques for retelling a text orally using key details. How to sequence events in logical order (first, next, last). Skills: 27. Students are able to: Identify the main story elements (characters, settings, and important events) in a literary text. Describe the main story elements (characters, settings, and important events) in a literary text. 27a. With prompting and support, Recall key details and important events in a text. Orally retell a text, including main character(s), setting, and important events in logical order. Understanding: 27. Students understand that: Identifying the characters, setting, and important events in a text help them better understand the overall meaning of the text. 27a. Recalling important events and details of a text helps to retell the story and understand the meaning of the text.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 28. Text clues Determine Main idea Make predictions Ending Literary text Prompting Support Knowledge: 28. Students know: Text clues can help make inferences. The main idea of a literary text. Techniques for predicting the end of a literary text. Skills: 28. Students are able to: With prompting and support, Identify the main idea in a literary text using text clues. Make predictions about an ending in a literary text using text clues. Understanding: 28. Students understand that: Text clues will help them identify the main idea and make predictions about the end of a story which helps to comprehend the 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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 37. Actively participate Shared writing experiences Independent writing experiences Varied purposes Varied audiences Difference genres 37a. Actively participate Shared writing experiences Create Messages Lists Labels Drawing Illustration 37b. Actively participate Shared writing experiences Create Narratives Events Chronological order Feelings Story Drawing Dictating Writing 37c. Actively participate Shared writing experiences Create Opinion pieces Topic Text State Opinion Supply Reason Sense of closure Drawing Dictating Writing 37d. Actively participate Shared writing experiences Create Explanatory text Factual information Topic Drawing Dictating Writing 37e. Compose Writing Varied purposes Varied audiences Different genres Prompting Support Knowledge: 37. Students know: Different genres of writing. The purpose and audience for writing can change. 37a. Writing, such as messages, lists, and labels, can be added to a drawing or illustration to convey meaning. 37b. Narrative writing tells a story with events in chronological order. Readers should be able to share their feelings after reading a narrative story. 37c. To express an opinion in writing, an author should state the opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and include a closing statement. 37d. Explanatory texts provide factual information. 37e. The format of writing will change, depending on its purpose, audience, and genre. Skills: 37. Students are able to: Write for various purposes and audiences across different genres, with teacher assistance and independently. 37a. Create messages, lists, and labels for a drawing or illustration. 37b. Create a narrative with the events in chronological order and share their feelings about the narrative, using drawing, dictating, and/or writing. 37c. Create an opinion piece with reason and closure using drawing, dictating, and/or writing. 37d. Create explanatory texts or provide factual information about a topic, using drawing, dictating, and/or writing. 37e. With prompting and support, Compose writing for varied purposes and audiences, across different genres. Understanding: 37. Students understand that: Writing conveys a message, and the format of writing will change, depending on its purpose, audience, and intended meaning. 37a. Creating a message, list, or label for a drawing or illustration can help provide readers with important information. 37b. Narratives should be written in chronological order and express the author's feelings. They can share their feelings about a story using drawing, dictating, or writing. 37c. Opinions may be expressed through writings based on reasoning. 37d. When writing an explanatory text, they must provide factual information. 37e. Writing communicates ideas, and the format of writing must change in order to convey its message to its intended audience.
English Language Arts ELA2021 (2021) Grade: 1	R5. Utilize a writing process to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writings in various genres. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: R5. Writing process Plan Draft Revise Edit Publish Genres Knowledge: R5. Students know: The writing process steps are to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish. Various genres of writing. Skills: R5. Students are able to: Plan writings in various genres. Draft writings in various genres. Revise writings in various genres. Edit writings in various genres. Publish writings in various genres. Understanding: R5. Students understand that: The writing process is a set of steps that make writing easier. There are different categories, or genres, of writing that can be used for different purposes.
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 Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 2. Participate Shared reading Background knowledge Oral reading Knowledge: 2. Students know: The process of shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions. Shared reading and collaborative discussions can increase their background knowledge. How fluent oral reading sounds. Skills: 2. Students are able to: Participate in shared reading and discussions to build background knowledge and learn new information. Describe how oral reading should sound. Understanding: 2. Students understand that: Actively participating in shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions can build their background knowledge. Listening to others read aloud can help improve their oral reading skills.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 23. Identify Describe Story elements Literary text 23a. Describe Characters Settings Illustrations Textual evidence Story 23b. Retell Plot Sequence Major events Chronological order Knowledge: 23. Students know: Main story elements in a literary text. 23a. Characters in a story. Settings in a story. Characters and settings in a story can be identified using information from the text or illustrations. 23b. Chronological order. Techniques for retelling a literary text orally using key details./li> Skills: 23. Students are able to: Identify the main story elements in a text. Describe the main story elements in a text. 23a. Identify characters in a story. Identify the setting of a story. Describe the characters of a story using illustrations and textual evidence. Describe the setting of a story using illustrations and textual evidence. 23b. Identify major events in a story. Retell the plot of a story in chronological order. Understanding: 23. Students understand that: Literary texts include predictable story elements, such as plot, characters, setting, conflict, and resolution, to help the reader to better comprehend the text. 23a. A story tells about a character's experience, and they can use information from the text or illustrations to identify and describe characters in a story. The setting is the time and place that a story takes place, and they can identify and describe the setting by using information from the text or illustrations. 23b. The major events that occur in a story is called the plot of the story. Chronological order means that a story has a timeline of events that occur in sequence from beginning to end. They can demonstrate their comprehension of a story by describing its main events in chronological order.
English Language Arts ELA2021 (2021) Grade: 1	27. Make predictions using information found within a literary text. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 27. Predictions Information Literary text Knowledge: 27. Students know: Predictions can be made using information from a text. Skills: 27. Students are able to: Made predictions about what will happen next based on information in a literary text. Understanding: 27. Students understand that: A prediction is an educated guess for what will happen next in a story, and they can use information in the story to create predictions.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 34. Narrative Appropriately sequenced events Transitions Relevant details Sense of closure Prompting Support Knowledge: 34. Students know: Narrative text describes a story in a series of events. Events in a narrative are sequenced using transition words. Narrative writing should include relevant details. Narrative writing should end with a sense of closure. Skills: 34. Students are able to: With prompting and support, Write a narrative that recounts two or more appropriately sequenced events. Use transition words in a narrative story. Incorporate relevant details in a narrative story. Provide a sense of closure when ending a narrative story. Understanding: 34. Students understand that: A narrative writing describes a sequence of events, uses transition words to show the chronological order of events, incorporates relevant details that are important to understand the story, and ends by providing the reader with 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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: R5. Writing process Plan Draft Revise Edit Publish Genres Knowledge: R5. Students know: The writing process steps are to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish. Various genres of writing. Skills: R5. Students are able to: Plan writings in various genres. Draft writings in various genres. Revise writings in various genres. Edit writings in various genres. Publish writings in various genres. Understanding: R5. Students understand that: The writing process is a set of steps that make writing easier. There are different categories, or genres, of writing that can be used for different purposes.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 23. Story elements Literary text 23a. Plot Narrative Textual evidence Major events Sequence 23b. Describe Character Traits Feelings Behaviors 23c. Setting Narrative Textual evidence 23d. Central message Moral 23e. Theme Myths Fables Folktales Knowledge: 23. Students know: Literary text is a story that contains story elements, like a plot and characters. 23a. Plot is the main events of a story (often referred to as the beginning, middle, and end of a story). The sequence of events is the order in which the story takes place. 23b. A story author provides descriptions of the characters' traits, feelings, and behaviors. 23c. Setting is when and where a story takes place. 23d. A central message or moral is the lesson that is learned through the story or the one big idea of the story. 23e. Theme is the main, recurring idea in a text. Myths, fables, and folktales are fictional pieces of text. Skills: 23. Students are able to: Identify the main story elements in a literary text, such as characters, settings, and plot. 23a. Explain the major events of a story in order by using text evidence. 23b. Describe characters' traits, feelings, and behaviors by using information from the text. 23c. Describe the setting of a story by using evidence from the text. 23d. Identify the central message or moral of a story using information from the text. 23e. Identify the theme of a myth, fable, or folktale. Understanding: 23. Students understand that: Literary texts include story elements, and they can identify the various elements to better understand the text. 23a. The plot is the main events of the story that happen in a particular sequence. The plot can be explained by using words or phrases from the text. 23b. Understanding each character's traits, feelings, and behaviors will help them better understand a story's plot. They can learn about characters by carefully reading the story and describing the characters' traits, feelings, and behaviors. 23c. They can use information from the text to learn when and where the story takes place. They can use the text to describe attributes of the setting. 23d. Stories will often have a central message or moral that the author intended to share with readers. 23e. Myths, fables, and folktales are often written to convey a particular theme or main message.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 27. Text structures Literary texts Informational texts Cause and effect Problem and solution Sequence of events Knowledge: 27. Students know: Literary and informational texts follow predictable structures. Cause and effect text structure describes an event (the cause) and the consequence or result of the event (the effect). Problem and solution text structure describes a problem and how the problem was solved or could be solved. Sequence of events is the order of events within a text. Skills: 27. Students are able to: Identify the text structure of literary texts. Identify the text structure of informational texts. Understanding: 27. Students understand that: Identifying the text structure of literary and informational texts will set a purpose for their reading and improve their comprehension.
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. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 40. Personal narrative Fictional narrative Logical Sequence of events Details Actions Thoughts Feelings Closure Knowledge: 40. Students know: A narrative is a piece of writing that tells a story. A narrative story describes a sequence of events in a logical order (beginning, middle, end). A narrative story describes the actions, thoughts, and feelings of the characters. Skills: 40. Students are able to: Write a personal narrative that recalls a personal experience or write a fictional narrative with a made-up story. Write a narrative with a logical sequence of events and provide details that describe how the character feels, acts, and thinks. Write a narrative that ends with a sense of closure. Understanding: 40. Students understand that: Narrative writing includes predictable elements, like a logical sequence of events and an ending that provides the reader with a sense of closure. Narrative writing can be used to tell about something that happened to them personally or it can tell a story they made up.

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

ALEX Classroom Resource

Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure