The updates included in this module specifically address the following topics. These topics in turn reflect the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) Reading Literature (RL), numbers one to three. Specific standards addressed in each update are identified in the instructor portion of each update.

Update 1- What is fiction?

In this update, students will explore and determine the commonalities found in fiction text, including setting, problem-solution, characters, and theme. By the end of this update, students will be able to identify whether a text is fiction or non-fiction and explain why.

Update 2- Identifying the setting

In this update, students will learn that the two parts of the setting are the "where" and the "when". Students will learn how to identify the setting and prove it with details from the text. Furthermore, students will begin to plan for their final project by designing an appropriate setting for their story.

Update 3- Problem and Solution

Identifying the problem and solution in a text is an important skill needed for students to be able to summarize text, which follows in the next update. Students will learn that sometimes problems have complex solutions. Additionally, students will begin to consider the problem and solution for their final project.

Update 4- How to Summarize

Students will learn to summarize using the Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then strategy. Summarizing builds upon the retelling strategy taught in the previous grade. Students are forced to be more concise when summarizing. This strategy can also be used as a backwards design for narrative writing.

Update 5- Character Traits

Identifying character traits and development in texts both helps students to better understand what they read and the motivations behind actions in the stories, but it also students to identify the theme. Students will spend a substantial about of time developing a character for their narrative.

Update 6- Theme

Students will learn to identify the change in the main character's trait in a work of fiction. They will come to understand both the character and the reader will learn a lesson as a result of this change.

Final Project

The module concludes with students using and transforming their reading knowledge to fiction writing. Throughout comments and updates, students will develop their writing plans. At the conclusion of Update 6, students will draft a narrative including all of the described components. This work will be peer-reviewed and ultimately published.

Post Student Content to a Community

Common Core State Standards-

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Purpose- Students will identify the elements of fiction including: setting, characters (traits), problem/solution, and theme. 

Teaching Tips:

Part 1-

Prior to class, prepare baskets or stacks of a variety of fiction books for students. Be sure to include both picture books and chapter books. These books should be ready and waiting for students before class or during the transition to reading time to peak curiousity.

Also prepared should be an area for students to post the commonalities that they discern with their group. This may look like students writing on Post-Its and attaching to a poster labeled, "What do these books have in common?" (Later you will cover up "these" with the word fiction.) Caution student not to write directly on the poster in case there are errors. This poster will become an anchor chart that you may want to display. After compaing and discussing Post-Its, the teacher can add the agreed upon elements to the poster.

1. Students will work with their groups to identify commonalities in their books. The teacher should circulate and encourage students. As groups identify books as fiction either through the term or description, pause discussions to share this fact aloud. "Yes, these are all fiction books! What do all fiction books have in common?"

2. The teacher should facilitate discussions as necessary. Be careful that students are not identifying what the stories have in common, but rather they are identifying what all fiction stories have in common.

3. Have a class discussion narrowing down the elements of fiction to problem/solution, setting, characters, and theme.

Be sure to relate reading and writing. While noting what is important to include in a summary, point out that these are the same things that author's must include in their writing. Add the elements of fiction to what will become an ongoing anchor chart "What good writer's include." Also, be sure to point out that summaries are short, but writers include much more detail to make writing interesting.

Part 2- 

Prepare students for writing comments.. Remind students that when they answer a question they need to restate and answer with both a claim and a reason. Provide a sentence frame for students who would benefit from it. (_________ is the most important part of fiction because _________.)

As students are posting their comments provide live feedback on their restates, claims, and reasons. Encourage and guide students until they meet expectations. Once students have shared their opinions, encourage them to engage in a debate about which element is most important.

Prior to part two, the teacher should assign a library of the follow of the following texts in Epic. For the purposes of this module, the following books will be used:

Brenner, M. (2000). Stacks of trouble. (Woodruff, L., illus.). Astra Publishing House.

DeRubertis, B. (2017). Umma ungka's unusual umbrella. (Alley, R.W., illus.). Triangle Interactive, Inc.

Harris, T. (2010). Tally cat keeps track. (Harris, A., illus.). Lerner Publishing Group.

Lupton, H. (1998). Tales of wisdom & wonder, the blind man and the hunger.  Barefoot Books

Uegaki, C. (2005). Suiki's kimono (Jorisch, S., illus.). Kids Can Press, Limited.

During this lesson, students will locate, present, and defend a work of fiction.

Part 3-

Lead students on a fiction investigation. Students will use their own book or a book from the classroom library for this activity. It also may be helpful to have students explore the assigned books in Epic for this activity. The intention of this activity is for students to identify and defend a work of fiction.

Prepare students for writing an update. In this lesson, students will prove that their chosen book is a work of fiction.  Model for students how to write a RACE response, including a Restate and an Answer (claim and reason), and (Cite) examples. "This is a work of fiction because it has elements of fiction. For example, it has a setting which is... Another example is that it has characters who are named...

Because this unit would take place at the beginning of the school year, teachers need to model extensively how to post and reply to comments. During this part of the lesson, teachers should model how to comment on another student's comment. For example, "I agree that this is fiction. I also noticed that this story has a theme or lesson."

Have students comment on their group member's updates. Encourage students to go beyond the required number of comments. Moderate comments and encourage students to elaborate as necessary. Be sure that students are including the various elements of fiction in their comments.

Part 4- Administer the "What are the elements of fiction? survey.

Common Core State Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Part 1-

Prior to the lesson teachers will want to be sure that students have working headphones.

Today students will work independently to watch the two videos and develop a definition of setting. It would be helpful to review what they are expected to address in the comment on prior to watching the videos. In this comment, students need to develop a definition of setting (where and when) and tell which video they enjoyed most. Instruct students to stop when they are finished writing their comments. Remind students of how to comment on a comment. Remind students that they should provide additional information or thinking.

Assessment Opportunities-

1. Determine whether students have identified the two parts of the setting in their comment.

2. In comments on updates, determine if students can identify whether other students have identified both parts of the setting.

Part 2-

Review the two-part of the setting (where and when) that students identified in their activity yesterday. Introduce the culminating project to students. Explain to students that they will be piecing together parts of their own work of fiction beginning with the setting. 

Guide students to illustrate the "where" either on paper or digitally. Encourage students to include details that the reader would see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. You may wish to model this for students. Repeat with the "when"

"My where is a beach. I see the beach, ocean, sun umbrella, towel, iPad, and sunscreen. I can feel the hard surfboard beneath my feet and the water splashing up from the ocean. I can feel the warm sun and the beach, I can feel the hot and grainy sand. I hear the music on the tablet playing and the ocean waves. I smell the sunscreen that I just put on. I can taste the saltwater that splashed.

My when is an afternoon in summer. I know it's afternoon because the sun is moving down on the horizon. It's summer because it's hot enough to play at the beach."

Farquhar, N. (2021) Setting (Google Canvas). [image].

Walk students through critically reviewing and commenting on an update. Coach students to be sure that the writer has identified both the when and the where. Then coach students through each sensory detail. Did your writer give examples of what they would feel? Offer a suggestion.

Common Core State Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Teachers should note the sequence of this unit purposely places setting before instruction and practice related to problem and solution. Thiis is purposeful and related to prior practice. Students in this age group typically have some prior knowledge about setting, but often forget to include both the time and the place. By placing problem and solution in this place in the sequence, students can continue to practice setting while practicing another skill for which they have some familiarity.

Identifying the problem and solution is easier for some students than others.  Teachers might consider introducing the model for summary- somebody, wanted, but, so, then to assist students in identifying the main problem in the book. Be sure to point out to students that there are often mini-problems that accompany the larger problem in a book. Model this with your current read-aloud. 

Part 1-

Provide students with two paper or plastic cups, a ruler, two Lego people (or small figures), two pencils, and yarn. Tell students this short story.

Mary and Fred were so excited to be working on the their hiking marit badge for Scouts. They packed their bags in the moning and headed to River's Edge park. 

About 20 minutes into their hike they came to a spot where the river had flooded the path. They looked around to see if there was another way. They couldn't go around it. It was too deep to walk through, and too chilly to swim. They were going to have to go over it.

"How will we get over the river?" Asked Fred. He and Mary looked around to see what was available. There were several branches that fell to the ground after the last storm. "I wonder if we can use these branches," Fred thought aloud.

Mary said, "I have some rope in my backpack!"

Instruct students to use their materials to create a solution to the problem.  Challenge students to place the cups one ruler's length apart so that they don't just balance a pencil on the two cups. You want student students to create a slightly more complicated bridge so that you can point out that often solutions require a bit of explanation.

Part 2-

Have a discussion about problem-solving in real life. Lead students to a discussion about life-hacks.  Students will watch a life-hacks video from You-Tube and identify the problem that accompanies each solution.  Informally assess students' ability to identify problems and solutions.

Part 3- Administer the knowledge survey for practice. The survey questions are from K12 Reader (Story Elements Worksheet: Problem and Solution, n.d.).

Common Core State Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Part 1-

Teachers should begin the lesson by "book talking" several books using the summary format. Examples are provided below, though it would be helpful to have the books in hand for authenticity. If possible, use former read-alouds to model summarizing through these book talks.

How to Steal a Dog (O'Connor, 2007)

Georgina wants to live in a house or apartment, but her Daddy left and her Momma doesn't have enough money. So, Georgina and her brother Toby steal a dog to get the reward money. Then, they decide to be honest and return the dog. Georgina's family moves in with one of her momma's friends.

Class Dismissed (Woodrow, 2017)

The kids don't want a new teacher, but now they don't have one at all! So, the kids work together so that they don't get caught. Then, in the end, they decide to tell their secrets.

Wonder (Palacios, 2012)

Auggie wants to go to school like all the other kids, but he has a facial deformity and a lot of people treat him differently. So, he makes some friends, and then he feels more like a normal kid.

After delivering the book talks, engage students in a conversation about what's important to share when doing a commercial-style book talk for their classmates. Record student suggestions as they share. Afterward, have students watch the summarizing song (Jake Scott, 2016) and record the five parts of a summary. Create an anchor chart with this information.

Be sure to relate reading and writing. While noting what is important to include in a summary, point out that these are the same things that authors must include in their writing. Add to the pieces of a summary to the ongoing anchor chart "What good writers include." Also, be sure to point out that summaries are short, but writers include much more detail to make writing interesting.

Part 2-

Open the lesson with a read-aloud of "A Winning Friendship." (Comprehension Skill Pack | Raz-Plus, n.d.) Model for students how to plan to write a summary.

Somebody- Brianna and Jamie (Point out that there can be more than one main character.)

Wanted- to win the baking contest.

But- each girl is missing an ingredient

So- they borrow what they need from each other

Then- they both win the contest

After completing this graphic organizer, model for students how to turn each part into sentences and ultimately a paragraph.

Brianna and Jamie wanted to win the baking contest. But, each girl is missing an ingredient. So, they borrow what they need from each other. Then, they both win the contest.

Part 2- 

Students will practice writing summaries with a partner. Given a list of three texts, partners will select two summaries to summarize. Teachers should circulate and provide specific feedback to pairs as they work. 

Writing a comment about how summaries are helpful has a dual purpose. First, it forces students to isolate a reason why summaries are useful, but it also forces them to reconsider whether the summaries that they wrote are actually helpful. 

Part 3-

Students will work independently to create an update that includes a summary of one of the five provided books or a book of their own that they have finished recently. Students will likely still need a lot of guidance in how to create an update. Guide students with how to insert a picture of their book cover. Remind them to include the (italicized) title and author below the image in addition to the summary. 

Part 4-

Both the update from part three and the comments about what may be missing from a peer's summary can be used to evaluate each student's understanding of what a summary is and how to write one. Students can be encouraged to submit their summaries in a variety of formats- written, video, audio recording, etceteras.

Common Core State Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Part 1-

Allow students about ten minutes to explore and play the games on the included website. All of the games ask questions that require students to use clues to identify character traits. Students will learn how to answer the questions through trial and error. Follow gameplay with a discussion about what the game asked them to do. As a class, create a definition of character traits and what factors are used to determine a character trait- what a character says, what a character does, what a character thinks, and what others say about a character.

Part 2-

Students in this age group often lack the necessary vocabulary to specifically describe a character trait. In this activity, students will identify 10-15 unknown or "fun" words from the video at 2'15" (Reddick’s 4th Grade Virtual Classroom, 2020).

Be sure to relate reading and writing. Writers give their characters traits and they don't always just come out and say, "Bubba is rude." Even if they do, they use more details to drive the trait home. Today students will practice preparing as a writer would, and in the process, they will create a character traits dictionary.

Students should use their resources to define each word in kid-friendly language. In their notes they should also determine what a character with this trait would say, do, and think, and what others might say about this character. Working in groups will allow students to develop a synergy of learning.

Part 3-

Students will practice identifying character traits with today's knowledge survey. It is okay for them to look up definitions of unknown words. Remind students to reference the anchor chart in the room if necessary.

Part 4-

This portion of this unit is worth putting the extra time and support into because it will make a difference in your students' development as narrative writers. Return to the anchor chart used to identify the elements of fiction. Spark a discussion with students about their favorite characters. Lead students to notice the changes in characters in fiction. Emphasizing that the characters learn something and change will lay a foundation for the theme.

Some examples:

Georgina from How to Steal a Dog (O'Connor, 2007) changes. In the beginning, she is dishonest, but at the end of the book, she learns to be honest.

Class Dismissed (Woodrow, 2017) had many characters who changed. In the beginning, Kyle is impulsive and irresponsible, in the end, he learns to be more responsible. In the beginning, Maggie is arrogant, but in the end, she learns to be a team player. Eric is shy in the beginning, and in the end, he learns to be assertive.

Allow students time to discuss and brainstorm how their characters will change. Work through the first half of this update together. In this update, students will identify their character's initial and ending traits. They will create a table as the teacher models. In this table, they will list the criteria for character traits on the left and details on the right. After creating the initial trait table together, encourage students to finish the update independently. They should include another table for the concluding trait. Students should comment on one another's updates providing additional suggestions.

For example: In the beginning, my character is selfish, she will learn to be more generous

What the character says                      "I don't want to share, it's mine."

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Part 1- Students will learn to identify the theme by reading short passages, picture books, and listening to pre-determined songs. Share common themes and have students add to the list. Be sure that students differentiate between a regrettable action by a character and a life lesson.  

Part 2- 

After the teacher deems that students have practice enough as a large group, inform students they will be working together to create care packages for some fictitious friends. Encourage the class to work as a large team. If students find a passage, book, or song that doesn't work for their care package, they should label it with the correct theme and either share it with the appropriate group or leave it marked for others. Working together in pairs, small groups, and as a class fulfills the need to socially construct knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978). "Higher mental functions have their origins in social activity," says Hausffather (1996, p.1) expounding upon Vygotsky's work. 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.A
Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.B
Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.C
Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.D
Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.E
Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.5
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 4 here.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.6
With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

Part 1-

The culminating project for this unit is a narrative. Students will transform what they have learned about reading narratives to writing narratives. Since this is the first narrative of the school year, students will need guidance as they work through the narrative planning process. 

Guide students through the writing process by showing the first video clip to the class and allowing them to write. Encourage students to watch the rest of the videos and write at their own pace. Provide students a deadline, so that students are prepared for the peer-review process.

Part 2- 

In part 2 students will engage in the peer-review process. Pair students with students within in their zone of proximal development. Because this is the first time, the peer review process should be scaffolded for students. The teacher should model how to read for the setting, declare a rating, and make comments for improvement. In this situation, the teacher is the more knowledgeable other.

Part 3-

Students will read their peer reviews and make revisions to their writing. Upon the conclusion of revisions, teachers model for students how to self-assess using the rubric.