How to Identify the Narrator’s Point of View

In my last post, Introducing Point of View in Narrative stories, I shared that I believe helping students learn more about characters and their point of view pulls them into stories and makes them want to read more. That has always been my goal in reading – helping students learn to love reading. Fourth grade is when my own love of reading started as I began to devour books at a pretty good rate. When I see that same intensity in my students, I know I’ve done something right as a teacher. In this post, students will learn how to identify the narrator’s point of view. Keep reading if this is something you are working on in your classroom or want to. 

What is the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person point of view?

In 4th grade, our readers learn that stories are told from different points of view and that those are called first, second, and third person. This anchor chart is perfect as a starting point for that discussion. I start by focusing on the Look For section which helps students identify the pronouns that will be used.

First Person: I, me, my, mine, myself, we, us, our, ourselves.

Second Person: you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves,

Third Person: he, she, it, we, him, himself, her, herself, it, us, they, them

How do you find the narrator’s point of view?

Step 2 in the sequence of finding Point of View is determining if the story is told in first, second, or third person by looking for the pronouns.

My student highlighted all the pronouns in the text, the “Underground Cave Room.” By using the anchor chart for reference, she was able to can identify that the story is told in the first person.

Now the student knows who is telling the story and can respond to the questions: Who is telling the story? How can you tell?

At this point, they can also identify the main character in the story.

Finding and Understanding the Narrator’s Point of View

Looking for adjectives is one way I help my students look for the narrator’s point of view. In this text, he is amazed that such a beautiful place exists. He calls the formations fantastic. These two adjectives show how he feels about the caves – his point of view. (This is step 3 on the How to Find the Point of View chart)

If students have trouble with finding those adjectives or how the character/narrator feels, ask them how they would feel if they were in the character’s shoes? Sometimes that helps unlock that idea for them!

I know your students will love learning more about the narrator’s and character’s point of view! Once they start thinking about that aspect of the story – they will want to learn more!

How do you teach your 4th-grade students about the point of view in narrative stories?

Grab these FREE Point of View Anchor Charts!

CLICK HERE to grab these FREE Point of View anchor charts for your classroom!

Use them for:

• Introducing Point of View
• Student Reading Notebooks
• Literacy Centers
• Small Group Visuals

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If you need a printable resource that you can use for your point of view lesson, grab this one that I used in this post.

It includes two passages, note pages, comprehension questions, and graphic organizers so that you can compare and contrast the point of view of two stories – which is the focus of the 4th-grade standard.