Short Stories
Age 10-12: Concept 1 - Environment and Cycles: Unit 3

Delve into several contemporary and classic short stories. Follow the experiences of a variety of empathetic characters whose challenges range from internal ethical struggles to actual struggles including life on Mars, an exploding volcano, and a deadly shipwreck. Analyze the elements of a short story and what differentiates it from a novel. Practice identifying and correcting run-on sentences and sentence fragments. For the final project, develop your own short story.
This unit is designed to be used in conjunction with the science and social studies in Unit 3: Our Changing Earth, but it can also be used as an independent literature unit.
This unit is designed to be used in conjunction with the science and social studies in Unit 3: Our Changing Earth, but it can also be used as an independent literature unit.
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Prerequisites
- Able to read and comprehend novels at a late 6th or 7th grade reading level
- Able to write multiple paragraphs on a topic
- Familiar with the five-paragraph essay
- Usually used by children in the sixth grade
Table of Contents
- Lesson 1: The Good Deed
- Lesson 2: Short Story Genre (2 Days)
- Lesson 3: The Dog of Pompeii (2 Days)
- Lesson 4: Rip Van Winkle (2 Days)
- Lesson 5: Zlateh the Goat
- Lesson 6: Women in Short Stories (2 Days)
- Lesson 7: Your Choice
- Final Project: Writing a Short Story (2 Days)
Summary of Skills
Moving Beyond the Page is based on state and national standards. These standards are covered in this unit.
- Ask questions that seek information. (Language Arts)
- Clarify understanding of text by creating reports. (Language Arts)
- Compose a variety of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected topics. (Language Arts)
- Discuss literature in teacher-student conferences and small group discussions. (Language Arts)
- Discuss print and non-print expressive works formally and informally. (Language Arts)
- Establish and develop a plot, setting, and present a point of view that is appropriate to the stories. (Language Arts)
- Explain different forms of third-person points of view in stories. (Language Arts)
- Explore what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting or the problem and its resolution. (Language Arts)
- Frame questions that direct analysis and investigation. (Language Arts)
- Identify and explain the point of view in a written work. (Language Arts)
- Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the plot development and author's choice of words. (Language Arts)
- Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the plot development. (Language Arts)
- Identify the speaker and recognize the difference between first- and third-person narration. (Language Arts)
- Include sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character. (Language Arts)
- Increase fluency, comprehension, and insight through a meaningful and comprehensive literacy program by using effective reading strategies to match type of text. (Language Arts)
- Interact with the text by formulating questions. (Language Arts)
- Interpret how personal circumstances and backgrounds shape interaction with text. (Language Arts)
- Interpret text by explaining elements such as characterization. (Language Arts)
- Interpret text by explaining elements such as plot. (Language Arts)
- Interpret text by explaining point of view. (Language Arts)
- Listen actively and critically by asking questions, evaluating information and ideas, making inferences, and drawing conclusions. (Language Arts)
- Make connections within and between texts by recognizing similarities and differences based on a common lesson, character, theme, or message. (Language Arts)
- Make reasonable assertions about a text through accurate, supporting citations. (Language Arts)
- Narrate an expressive account that uses remembered feelings and specific details. (Language Arts)
- Pose relevant questions. (Language Arts)
- Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres. (Language Arts)
- Read a variety of literature and other text. (Language Arts)
- Read independently from self-selected materials. (Language Arts)
- Recognize and develop the role of a critic by constructing a critical response/review of a work/topic. (Language Arts)
- Understand, make inferences, and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of a story. (Language Arts)
- Use a range of narrative devices (such as dialogue and suspense). (Language Arts)
- Use a variety of sentence types correctly, punctuate them properly, and avoid fragments and run-ons. (Language Arts)
- Use phrases and clauses correctly. (Language Arts)
- Use quotation marks around the exact words of a speaker. (Language Arts)
- Write multi-step directions. (Language Arts)