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Common Core ELA1st GradeReading: Literature

RL.1.6: Who Is Telling the Story?

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.1.6 Means in Plain English

First graders track who is telling a story from line to line. In a story about a first jump off the diving board, the narrator says I and my, and when a friend calls “You can do it!” the quotation marks show the friend is talking now.

Children use clues: I and me inside the story, a name beside a word like said or called, and the marks around spoken words. Kindergartners named author and illustrator (RL.K.6). In 2nd grade they read each character’s lines in a different voice to show different points of view (RL.2.6).

RL.1.6 I Can Statements

  • I can tell who is telling the story.
  • I can find the words a character says out loud.
  • I can use I, my and said as clues.

RL.1.6 Worked Example

A story told by the child on the diving board, with one line spoken by a friend, and two answers about who is talking.

Read the Story
I climbed all the steps to the high diving board. My knees wobbled.I looked down at the blue water and took a big breath.“You can do it!” called my friend Rosa from the pool.“Here I go!” I yelled, and I jumped. Splash!
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Who is telling this story? Who is talking when it says “You can do it!”?
Not Yet“Rosa is telling the story.”Rosa speaks only one line. The one telling the story says I and my from the first word to the last.
Meets the Standard“The kid on the diving board tells it, because it says I climbed and my knees. Rosa says ‘You can do it!’ The marks and called my friend Rosa show it’s her.”It names the narrator from the I and my clues, and spots the switch to Rosa at the quotation marks.
Question Stems to Use
Who is telling the story?Who is I in this story?Who is talking now?How do you know?Which words show someone is talking?

Common Mistakes with RL.1.6

Thinking I means the reader

“I didn’t jump off a diving board!”

Try this: Ask “Who is I in this story?” and have the child find the clue, like my knees wobbled, before answering.

Missing the switch to a character

Says the narrator calls “You can do it!”

Try this: Color the words inside quotation marks with a highlighter, then find the name next to them to see who is talking.

Mixing up the narrator and the author

“The author jumped off the diving board.”

Try this: Separate the two jobs: the author wrote the book, the narrator is the voice inside it. Ask “Who is talking in the story?”

Where RL.1.6 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.K.6Name the author and illustrator and say what each does.
AlongsideL.1.1Use pronouns like I, me and my, the words that give the narrator away.RF.1.4Read aloud with expression, changing the voice when a character starts talking.
Comes NextRL.2.6Notice how characters see things differently, using a different voice for each one when reading aloud.

Practice RL.1.6

Quick Check

  1. Who is telling this story?
  2. Who says “You can do it!”?
  3. What does the narrator yell before jumping?

RL.1.6: Other Names

RL.1.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.