In this activity, students will examine the author’s point of view and identify ways this view is unique in understanding elements of the story.
“Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.” (page 8)
Alice thought to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down the stairs! How brave they’ll all think of me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!
And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.
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Student Instructions
Create a large, colorful anchor chart with examples of first-person, second-person, and third-person points of view. Display it where all students can see for easy reference during reading activities.
Read a short passage aloud and verbalize your thought process as you determine the narrator’s point of view. Highlight signal words like 'I', 'you', or character names to make your reasoning clear.
Assign students to find sentences or phrases in a story that reveal the narrator’s perspective. Encourage them to share with the class and explain how each example shows point of view.
Select two short texts with different narrators. Guide students to identify each text’s point of view and discuss how it changes the reader’s experience or understanding.
Invite students to rewrite a familiar scene from the story using a different narrator (e.g., from Alice to the Dodo). Challenge them to use language that matches the new perspective.
Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told. Identifying it helps students understand how the narrator shapes the reader’s experience and reveals unique details about characters and events.
Guide students to look for narrator clues like thoughts, feelings, and direct addresses to the reader. Use quotes and illustrations to help them recognize how the author’s perspective influences the story.
Examples include the narrator revealing Alice’s thoughts and speaking directly to the reader, such as describing Alice’s feelings about falling or inviting the reader to imagine themselves in the story.
Effective activities include having students identify quotes showing the narrator’s perspective, create illustrations for scenes, and compare how different characters see the same events.
The narrator’s point of view lets readers see Alice’s inner thoughts and emotions, making her experiences feel more personal and relatable for students.