Patterns of Chapters, Scenes, or Stanzas of Text Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RL.5.5

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Large bodies of written work are often sectioned into chapters. Each chapter has a different theme or main topic. Many books will have multiple chapters that greatly differ in length. Each chapter may have several different scenes. A scene is section where the main characters have a series of interactions. Some students will confuse settings and scenes. A setting is the back drop; a scene is what is happening in that setting. Stanzas are usually reserved for poems. They are a group of lines of a poem that form a basic unit of poetry within the poem. These worksheets will help students start to see regularity and familiarity in written works of all types.

Chapters, Scenes, or Stanzas Worksheets:

Grandfather's Office – Adam sneaks into his grandpa's office.

The Soccer Game – Kaity gets ready and wants to be on point for her big game.

The Man in the Baseball Hat – Dylan can't wait for his mom to get home so they can start their fun night together.

Sarah and Razzle – Sarah has an interesting experience at the local animal shelter.

Andy's New Sister – Andy is afraid and excited for his baby sister's arrival.

My Favorite Holiday – Outside of December, this holiday ranks up their with kids.

Brace Face – Read each short story and determine the theme or message in the story.

Summer Evenings – Summer was always Kayla's favorite time of the year.

Swimming Lessons – Nick couldn't wait for school to be out for the summer. It was his first year of swimming lessons at the beach.

Fourth of July – Nancy loved summer. She enjoyed not being stuck in a classroom listening to her teacher talk about multiplication and division.

Christmas Eve – Christmas Eve has always been a time for families to prepare for Christmas Day and is often just as full of tradition as Christmas Day is.

The Train – As a child, Mary lived in a large house with a huge yard.

When I Grow Up – Kevin wanted to be a farmer when he was five years old.

Grandma's Cookies – My grandma's house always smelled like cookies.

The Lamp and the Lesson – Danny's mom didn't have many rules as far as playing in the house. Big mistake!

What's the Author's Purpose? – Read each selection, and decide the author's purpose in writing the selection.

The Road Not Taken: Feelings and Emotions – Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.

The Road Not Taken: Conflict Worksheet – Internal conflict means that the character is having to make a difficult decision or is "arguing" with him or herself.

The Raven - Internal Conflict – Answer the following questions after you read "The Raven".

External Conflict – Conflict is an important part of the plot. Without conflict and problems, there really wouldn't be a story at all.

Internal Conflict: The Ant and the Cricket – See if you can get the gist of the poem.

Plot Elements #1 - Ending – Consider what information is needed in the Ending of a story for the story.

Plot Elements #2 - Middle – Consider what information has to be included in the middle of a story to make it work.

Plot Elements #3 - Beginning – See if you can get what is going on right away.

Story Settings – of the most important aspects of plot, is setting. The setting refers to the time and place of the action of the story.

Cause and Effect - #1 – In order to understand plot, you have to understand how causes and effects work together to create events and build suspense.

Cause and Effect - #2 – Read the following list of effects and then list three possible causes of each.

Chronological Sequence of Events – You may need more boxes than are provided or you may not need all of the boxes provided.

Plot Diagrams – Make a plot diagram for Paul Revere's Ride.

Plot Flashback – A type of plot that does not go in chronological order (time order) often involves a flashback.

Patterns of Chapters, Scenes, or Stanzas


Authors and publishers of books and poems are likely to divide texts in various sections. The major purpose behind dividing one unified text into smaller subsections is to make it easier to read for the readers. Other than bringing ease to the readers, these divisions are also beneficial for publishers and writers as these divisions erase all the confusions while writing and binding the book.


There is not any specified or hard and fast rule for making these divisions in texts. However, some of the most commonly followed patterns for all of these are as follows:


Patterns of Chapters


Most of the books, academic or fiction, are divided in the form of chapters. These chapters are either divided with one chapter addressing one particular topic in the academic books or one chapter describing one event or something from the perspective of one individual in the fiction books. All the chapters in novels and other fiction books are usually more or less of the same length. However, the chapter may vary greatly in length in the academic books and course books depending upon the nature of the topic being addressed and the amount of explanation it requires. Mostly the chapters in academic books end with some exercise question and bibliography of the terms used in the chapter while the other books rarely have these two elements at the end.


Patterns of Scenes


Scenes are mostly used to divide the text in plays and dramas that are meant to be performed on stage. These scenes vary in length within the same text and start with an explanation of the setting.


Patterns of Stanzas


Stanzas divide the poem into equal parts. Depending on the nature of the poem, the stanzas may have 4,3, or even 6 lines each, but their length mostly remains consistent in a poem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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