Who’s Talking Now Worksheet
The Who’s Talking Now Worksheet gives 4th graders three short stories about one windy morning, told by three different narrators, plus an answer key for quick checking of point of view work.
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About this resource
Description
Knowing who is telling a story is one of the first real steps toward reading like a thinker, and the Who’s Talking Now Worksheet gives fourth graders three short accounts of the same windy morning so they can hear the difference for themselves. A story told in first person uses words like I, my, and we, and the reader only learns what that one person saw, felt, and wondered about. A story told by a narrator outside the events uses names and the words he, she, and they, and that narrator can move between characters and report what each one did. Comparing first person and third person narration is exactly what fourth grade readers are asked to do, and it is far easier to learn from three passages sitting side by side than from a definition on a poster.
This 4th grade point of view worksheet holds three numbered story cards, and every card describes the same sunflower that blew over in the school garden. Story one is told by Norah, story two is told by a narrator standing outside the garden, and story three is told by Dominic. Under each card students write who is telling the story, and then answer a second question that pushes the thinking further: what does only this narrator know? Read the three cards aloud first, then let students work through the questions on their own or with a partner. The answer key on the final page shows a model response for every line.
What’s Included
- 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
- Answer key
- 3 short narrated passages with 6 written response questions
The Who’s Talking Now Worksheet helps young readers in three ways. First, it puts first person and third person narration on one page, so the contrast does the teaching instead of a rule that has to be memorized. Second, the second question on every card asks for evidence rather than a label, which turns a quick identification task into the kind of short constructed response that state reading tests use. Third, because all three passages describe the same event, students see that the narrator decides what a reader is allowed to know, a big idea that carries straight into novels, biographies, and news stories.
Try rewriting one of the cards together as a class: take story two and retell it in Norah’s voice, or take story one and hand it to a narrator outside the garden. Ask students to open the library book they are reading and decide, in one sentence, who is telling it. During read aloud time, pause and ask what the narrator could not possibly know. Students can also write two short versions of something that happened at recess, one in first person and one in third person, then trade with a partner and label each one.
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