CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading Personal Narratives

Before you write about your own experience, you'll want to see how other students created personal narratives. This lesson shows you a narrative paragraph and a narrative essay, explaining each part. As you read them, think about how the writers made the people, places, and events come to life through description, action, and dialogue.

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

A personal narrative paragraph has three main parts. The topic sentence introduces your story. The body sentences describe what happened to you. The ending sentence tells why the experience was important. This paragraph shares one writer’s story about a school play.

Sample Paragraph

Listen to "Frozen on Stage."

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Frozen on Stage

Topic SentenceMy first school play is something I’ll never forget. I was playing Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Abraham Lincoln. The whole auditorium was packed with people. Body SentencesIt was hot inside, even though it was the middle of the winter. Ms. Valentine gave me the cue, so I walked on stage toward Chad, who was playing Abraham Lincoln. When I looked at the audience, I froze and forgot my line. Now I was really sweating. I looked at Chad, and he pointed to his hat. That helped me remember the line. I said, “Geez, Abe, your hat is on crooked again.” The crowd laughed, and I relaxed. We got a standing ovation when the show ended. Chad was a great teammate. Ending SentenceI knew from then on that I would be a good teammate, too.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

Before you capture your own memory wish in a narrative paragraph, you should read a similar paragraph created by a different student. As you read and respond to the paragraph, think about how the writer made the memory come to life for the reader.

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

A narrative paragraph tells a true story from the writer’s life. It has three main parts. The topic sentence introduces the topic of the story. The body sentences tell what happened in the story. And the ending sentence wraps up the story. The sample paragraph tells about a special trip to the zoo.

Listen to "Polar Bear Games"

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Sample Paragraph

Polar Bear Games

Topic SentenceI’ll never forget the time I saw the playful polar bear. My family and I were at the polar bear pen at the zoo. Inside the pen, a white polar bear named Amelia was wrestling with a log. Body SentencesThe bear rolled around and tossed the log into the air. Then she batted it into a giant swimming pool. But the polar bear wasn’t done with the log just yet. She leaped into the water and disappeared. “Let’s go down to the water-window!” I said, so my sister and I raced down to find her. Next, we pressed our faces against the glass, and the playful polar bear swam right in front us.Ending Sentences And guess what? She had the log tucked under her arm!

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Understanding Narrative Paragraphs

In a narrative paragraph, you tell a story about a personal experience. You try to pull your readers into the story and keep them wondering what will happen next. Be sure to include specific details to make your experience come to life.

Read a narrative paragraph.

Note how the author catches your interest in the topic sentence, describes the event, creates suspense, and closes the paragraph.

Listen to "Climbing Contest"

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Topic Sentence

Topic Sentence Last Tuesday, I invited Danny, Julio, Renatta, and Mishiko to ride over to climb my favorite oak tree. We’ve all climbed the tree together before, but this time we decided to see who could climb the highest. Julio and Renatta climbed a little bit higher than usual, and I climbed almost to the end of one huge limb. Body SentencesMishiko climbed even higher than I did, but Danny won our little contest. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize how high he had climbed, until he looked down. He froze. He clung to the limb he was on and was afraid to climb down. What if he had to stay up in the tree all night? Renatta took off on her bike to tell her mom. Her mom called the fire department, and before long, an engine—with sirens blasting—arrived to rescue Danny. Ending Sentence It was very exciting, but we also learned a lesson about climbing contests.

A Fable Once there was a bunny. He had a big problem. He didn’t think he was special. He wanted to be someone different. He went for a walk. First he met a lion. The lion said, “What are you doing, little rabbit? It is a lot of work watching my kingdom.” “Well, then, I’ll be on my way,” said the little rabbit. He thought, “I don't want to be a lion!” Then he met a turtle. The turtle said, “What are you doing, little bunny? I have a long way to go and I’m really slow.” “Well, then, I’ll be off.” The last animal he saw was a mouse.
The Missing Coin It was the day after St. Patrick’s Day, and all the little leprechauns were settling down for a nap. But one leprechaun named Sly was wide awake. He had lost his magic coin! Meanwhile a little girl named Emma had found the leprechaun’s magic coin. “Hey, look at this!” she exclaimed to her mom. “Wow,” said her mom, “I think it's a real leprechaun coin. Without it the leprechaun can’t get around very fast.
The Sled Run One day it snowed like crazy! So school was cancelled. I had Amy over to play. We decided to go sledding. So we started to slide down the hill. We sledded for a long time. One time we decided to go down together. Amy sat in the front seat, and I sat in the back. We started to go down the hill. Then CRASH! We ran into a bush! Amy went flying, and I got my feet caught in the bush! Amy looked like a spider caught in its own spider web. I had a lot of fun that day, and I will never forget it!
The Funny Dance I remember when my dog Murphy was really little. She was only two or three years old. It was on Christmas. My dad put on some Christmas music, and Murphy put her paws up in the air and started swirling around in circles. Then she put her paws on my dad’s hands, and they started dancing together. It was very funny, and my dad thought that Murphy was a good dancer!