Point of View
I can distinguish the point of view.
Nonfiction Text
Directions
After the Fire
Long ago, there was a very big fire in Chicago. All the houses were made of wood. The streets were wood, too. Wood burns easily. It was hard to put out the fire. The fire burned for more than 30 hours. People could not stop it. Then it started to rain. Then people were safe.
After the fire, many blocks had burned. Many houses were gone. People needed to move the burned things out of the way. They wanted to build new homes.
A leader had a plan. He said they should put the burned things in the lake. Then they would have more land. Some people said that was a waste of time. They should build houses first. But other people said they could do both. They could move the burned
things. They could build, too.
So they did. It was hard work. They put lots of old wood from the fire in the lake. They piled dirt on top. They planted grass. They planted trees. They made the city bigger that way. They did not build on new land. It was too soft. They called that landfill.
Leaders said the land could be a special place. It would be a park. It was next to downtown. So many people would be able to go there. They did make it a park. You can see that park today. It is Grant Park. It is downtown, and many people go there every day. Thousands of people work downtown. They can all go to the park.
That was one way people changed Chicago after the fire. Five years after the fire, Chicago looked new. People had built downtown. And they built new homes. The city was as big as it had been. They used stones and bricks. They built new streets. They used stones for the streets. The streets were bumpy.
Some people complained. They said that wood did not cost as much as bricks. They wanted to use wood. Other people said that was foolish. They made it a law. Homes had to be protected. The leaders did not want to have another big fire.
Each year, more people moved to Chicago. They came to find jobs. They came to live in a great city.
Questions
2. How do you know this is the narrator's point of view? Use details from the text to support your thinking.
Rubric
The student will read the story After the Fire, and determine the author's point of view. They will support their answer with details from the story.
Level 2
The student will read the story After the Fire, and will determine the author's point of view, but cannot support this view with details from the story.