South Dakota ELA 1.RL.5

ELA1st GradeReading Literature

The Standard

Explain major differences between common text structures and genres.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify a short text as a story, poem, or play. They explain how it is arranged, using clues such as events in order, short lines, or character names before speech.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can point to the beginning, middle, and end of a story and the line breaks in a poem. They can spot character names in a play and explain how those names help readers know who speaks.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call any text that rhymes a poem, even when it tells a story in paragraphs. They may also think a story becomes a play whenever characters talk.
How to Assess It: Show a three-sentence story and a four-line poem about a lost mitten. Ask, "Which is the poem, and how is it arranged differently from the story?"

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed story, poem, and two-speaker play; have them mark event order, line breaks, and speaker names with crayons.
Read a story and a poem about rain, then ask, "How can you tell which is which without looking at the titles?"
Play a text sort with six short cards; partners place each under story, poem, or play and name one clue.
Show a library storybook, a birthday card poem, and a class play script; ask where each might be used.

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