RL.3.5: Chapters, Scenes and Stanzas
Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.
The Official Wording
Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What RL.3.5 Means in Plain English
Third graders name the parts of what they read with the right word: chapters in a book, scenes in a play, stanzas in a poem. Then they explain how each later part depends on earlier ones, like a chapter that solves a problem set up two chapters back.
In 2nd grade (RL.2.5) students described how a story’s beginning introduces it and its ending wraps it up. Third grade looks at every part in between. In 4th grade (RL.4.5) students explain how poems, plays and prose differ, using terms like verse and stage directions.
RL.3.5 I Can Statements
- I can use the words chapter, scene and stanza correctly.
- I can tell what happens in each part of a story.
- I can explain how a later part builds on an earlier one.
RL.3.5 Worked Example
Three short chapters from one book. The last chapter only works because of the two before it.
Chapter 1, The Rule: Lu has won the Bay Street sandcastle contest three summers in a row. This year her little brother Mateo can finally enter, and the rule is strict: every builder works alone.Chapter 2, The Tide: Mateo builds right at the water’s edge, where the sand packs best. With half an hour to go, the sea starts creeping into his moat. Three spots up the beach, Lu sees it happen.Chapter 3, The Wall: Lu leaves her own sandcastle with no towers. She never touches Mateo’s. Instead she builds a long, low wall of sand between his castle and the sea. When the judges arrive, his castle is still standing.
Common Mistakes with RL.3.5
Calling every part a chapter
“In the second chapter of the poem…”
Try this: Post a three-column chart, chapter for books, scene for plays, stanza for poems, and have students label each new text before discussing it.
Summarizing each part separately
“Chapter 1 is about the rule. Chapter 2 is about the tide. Chapter 3 is about a wall.”
Try this: Ask “What from the last chapter does this one need?” after each chapter summary, and draw an arrow between the linked details.
Only linking neighboring parts
Connects Chapter 3 to Chapter 2 and forgets the rule from Chapter 1
Try this: Have students trace one detail, like the rule, from its first appearance to every later chapter that depends on it.
Where RL.3.5 Fits
Practice RL.3.5
Quick Check
- What rule does Chapter 1 set up?
- What problem starts in Chapter 2?
- Why doesn’t Lu just fix Mateo’s sandcastle herself?