Narrative arcs and the prototypical “Plot Diagram” are essential for building literary comprehension and appreciation. Plot diagrams allow students to pick out major themes in the text, trace changes to major characters over the course of the narrative, and hone their analytic skills.
Plot is the main events of a story, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence of events. This article is for elementary school teachers teaching the parts of a story to their students.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, which takes place 9 years later in 1954, is the true story about a young girl who got leukemia as a result of the poisons emitted in the air when the bomb was dropped. Hers is a story of family, friendship, and hope.
Can't find a specific book in our pre-made lesson plans? This novel study guide has easy to use activities that can be tailored to any book, novel, or short story.
Have students create a Beginning, Middle, End summary of Sodako and the Thousand Paper Cranes!
Storyboard Text
BEGINNING
I'm going to make the team, mama!
You sure will, Sadako-chan.
MIDDLE
END
Sadako is energetic, determined, and ready to do anything to make the junior high running team the following year. Her family remembers those who died due to the atom bomb on August 6, 1945; many lives were lost that day, and others are still being lost as a result of illness because of the poisons from the bomb.
Sadako learns that she has leukemia, otherwise known as the “atom bomb disease”. She is hospitalized and at the urging of her best friend, Chizuko, she begins folding paper cranes to save her own life. It is said that cranes live for a thousand years, and if a sick person folds 1,000 cranes, they will become healthy again.
Sadako’s health worsens and she dies on October 25, 1955. She has made 644 cranes. Her classmates fold the remaining 356 cranes so that she can be buried with 1,000 of them. Three years later, a statue of Sadako is unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park, honoring her and those who died as a result of the atom bomb.