LitLinks: How to teach about narrative arc with a mentor text

GUEST BLOGGER LESLIE BARNARD BOOTH

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In One Day This Tree Will Fall, readers watch a single tree transform from seed to sprout to towering giant to gnarled snag to rotting log. Through lyrical text with a clear narrative arc, they witness all the challenges the tree faces across its thousand-year lifespan. Readers see that even after its death it is a crucial part of the forest ecosystem. In addition to teaching about life cycles, ecosystems, nutrient cycling, decomposition, changing environmental conditions, and animal habitats, One Day This Tree Will Fall is a mentor text for exploring narrative arc with a beginning, middle, and end.

Narrative arc activity

Lesson objectives

Students will be able to:

• identify beginning, middle, and end in an informational text with a narrative arc
• create their own stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end

Steps

• Discuss beginning, middle, and end, explaining the role of each story part.
• Introduce One Day This Tree Will Fall. Set a purpose for reading: Ask students to think about what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the book.
• Read the book to the class.
• Discuss the book and have students fill out the Beginning/Middle/End graphic organizer in this packet.
• Ask students to think about something in nature that grows and changes. They can brainstorm using the Brainstorm worksheet in this packet.
• Now invite students to choose a topic from their Brainstorm worksheet and write and illustrate a short story about it that has a beginning, middle, and end.

Extensions

Find more lessons and activities here.

Featured image credit: “Fallen tree” by nahid-v is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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Leslie Barnard Booth writes lyrical picture books about science and nature. She is the author of One Day This Tree Will Fall (Simon & Schuster/McElderry) and A Stone Is a Story (Simon & Schuster/McElderry), a Kids’ Indie Next pick, Blueberry Honor Book, and NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book. She has taught at preschool, elementary, and college levels and holds an MFA in creative writing and an MS in education from the University of Oregon.​

Leslie grew up in Washington state, among giant trees and rugged mountains. As a child her pockets were always full of rocks. She is now a mom to two daughters, and her children often inspire her creative work. She learns a lot from watching how they approach nature—the way they pause, crouch, and look closely at even the littlest, humblest creatures. Thanks to them, she’s relearned what children seem to know intuitively: that every snail, stone, and clump of moss is full of wonder, if only we take the time to look.

​Leslie lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her at lesliebarnardbooth.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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