Helping Teachers Make A Difference ® © 2014 Really Good Stuff ® 1-800-366-1920 www.reallygoodstuff.com Made in China #305983 All teaching guides can be found online. Plot’s Peak, Level 1 Congratulations on your purchase of the Really Good Literacy Center-in-a-Bag™ Plot’s Peak, Level 1, a valuable plot-diagram activity. Meeting Common Core State Standards Really Good Stuff Plot’s Peak, Level 1 aligns with the following English Language Arts Standards: Craft & Structure Anchor Standard 5 Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. RL.3.5 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text. This Really Good Stuff product includes: • 5 Two-Sided Story Cards • 40 Arrow Labels • 25 Story Part Cards • 50 Blank Story Part Cards • 1 Plot Diagram Folder Mat • 2 Two-Sided Answer Key Cards • 1 Center Task Card • This Really Good Stuff Teaching Guide Story structure is a fairly simple concept, but recognizing the parts of a story takes practice. At earlier levels of literacy, stories have very obvious climactic moments. As students encounter more complex stories, they need to practice and refine this skill. Managing the Center-in-a-Bag • Visit our Web site www.reallygoodstuff.com to download Really Good Stuff Teaching Guides. • Students work with one matching-colored set (e.g., blue Story Card, Story Part Cards, and Answer Key) at a time. If there is time they switch to another color. • Make copies of the Plot’s Peak Reproducibles to provide further practice. • Display the Center Task Card. • Demonstrate how to tidy the Center when the activity is complete. • Store the center materials in the bag, and hang it alongside other Centers-in-a-Bag. Introducing Plot’s Peak Practice analyzing story structure using a plot diagram, which is a metaphorical visual aid. Discuss the parts of a story, starting with climax. Like the hill depicted in the plot diagram, a story has a peak, or highest point. The climax is the most exciting or important part of a story. The climax might be the moment in which a problem or conflict in the story is at its height. In some stories, the climax is a moment in which tension is finally released or a big change occurs, affecting characters’ situations. Often, the climax takes place near the end of a story; sometimes it is closer to the middle. Students might benefit from identifying a story’s climax before its other parts. The exposition is at the beginning of the story. Exposition means showing. The author is showing who the characters are and providing background and setting for the story. The part of a story that builds up to the climax is the rising action. The characters are becoming more developed. Like the bicyclists in the graphic, the reader experiences building excitement or tension. Often, the rising action is a problem starting to present itself. At this point, an involved reader will start to think about where the story is going and how resolution may be found. Similarly, falling action is the part in which the climax has taken place and other aspects of the story are being worked out. The resolution is the ending. Most stories end peacefully, even if the ending is not a happy one. At this point, the author has provided a rounded set of events, and characters have been fully developed. In many stories’ resolutions, the characters and/or the reader has been presented with a lesson or set of lessons. Model the activity for the students. They will first select and read a Story Card and think about which part of the story is the climax. The student places the Climax Arrow Label on this part of the Story Card. The labels help the student keep track of the story parts. Next, the student thinks about which parts of the story are the exposition, rising action, falling action, and resolution, then places Arrow Labels on the story parts. Next, the student reads the Story Part Cards and places them on the Plot Diagram Climax