Point of view is a skill that can be viewed as overwhelming. How can you make sure your students retain the standard all while having fun? We've got tips for teaching, practicing, and assessing point of view that will make this concept simplified for you and your students!

Introducing Point of View

Point of view is an easy skill to understand for students, but it can be hard to retain. When it comes to point of view, the best way to begin this skill is having an anchor chart up for the students to view when they are introduced to the skill and to refer to throughout their independent practice.

Here is a resource from our Lucky Little Toolkit. Doubles as an anchor chart or a bookmark! View this post for directions on how to print poster-sized anchor charts.

With this you can give your students sentence strips or write on the board sentences where you can model how to determine the point of view looking for the key words such as: I, you, he, they, etc.

Examples:

• I need to go to the office. (First Person)
• You are my best friend! (Second Person)
• They walked down the hallway in a straight line. (Third Person)

As you read these take a different color expo marker to box the words: I, You, and They. These can remain up somewhere in the classroom as you complete independent and group practice.

Videos to Help Introduce Point of View

These videos are great additions to help introduce point of view and also to help engage your students before you being practicing with one another!

Teaching Point of View With Fairy Tales

So, your students now have been introduced to point of view. They somewhat understand what they are learning, but it's time to put that into practice! A great way to practice point of view is the use of a mentor text. A great first example from a book would be the story “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.” This book is told from the wolf's perspective and is sure to engage your students.

Using a Venn diagram or an anchor chart students may compare the points of view from the story. They can compare the wolf, the pigs, and even their own perspective. This book is a hilarious book that will make them excited to continue learning!

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There are lots of fantastic fairy tale stories written from the perspectives of supporting characters. Check out this post: Compare & Contrast Fairy Tales for recommendations!

Teaching Point of View With Practice Sheets

So you've used sentence strips, cute videos, a mentor text, and you're feeling confident your students are ready to tackle some text. These point of view worksheets that are new and ready to go from Lucky Little Learners are great to practice in whole group, small group, and independently as you scaffold through this skill.

We will go through the passage Banana Problems from our packet to see how can this be used in a variety of ways.

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What is also great about these worksheets is that you can track fluency as well! Here is a great post on how to give a fluency assessment.

Point of View Sheets in Whole Group

Take the point of view reading passage and have your students follow along as you read. Have your students underline those keywords that they see on their anchor chart/bookmark. When you're done you can have your students respond with the keywords that they found in the passage. They should find words like he, his, they, etc.

Together you can work through the back of the sheet to figure out the questions and have your students turn and talk for each of the questions. Fill the sheet out using a document camera or on an active board for your students to follow along with. This helps them know exactly how they can use this sheet on their own.

Point of View Worksheets in Small Group

This same worksheet can be done differently in small groups. Your students will be excited to use a whole lot of highlighters!

Before reading the passage together, silently, or with tubaloos have your students highlight each question with a different color highlighter. As you go through the story together highlight the answers in the text with the matching highlighter color. For example, in the question “What problem did tricky have?” you could use an orange highlighter for the question, and in the passage highlight in orange,” He couldn't find a single banana.” This helps your students practice their detective skills, how to answer questions, and how to use text evidence.

Do you want more practice with text evidence? Check out this post here: Ideas to Help with Text Evidence!

Assess Point of View

Whether you take these for a grade or just as a check for understanding these worksheets are great for independent work in centers or when your students need an assessment. These sheets are wonderful for differentiation as well so you can check on understanding for all the types of learners that you have! Just print, copy, and assess!

Practice Point of View With Task Cards

Are you looking to add point of view into your centers or as a fun activity for your students to do independently? Our Toothy Reading Task Cards have a great point of view option that can help your students practice that standard with a smile on their face! Even better you can get them digital as well for those remote learners!

Make Point of View Crafty!

Are you looking for a cute craft or activity to reach those artistic learners? This is a great activity to wrap up the unit! Have your students either draw a pair of sunglasses (great for the end of the year) or an eye. In the lens or pupil of the eye have your students draw what that character is seeing from their point of view. You can have a student use a book that they are currently reading or use a class mentor text! This is an easy way to differentiate as well and to help decorate the room with some great work!

With all of these tips you can have a new view on teaching point of view! Your students will be excited to share their new insights and to show their new view points on their characters.