PSTAAR Reviews
3rd Grade PSTAAR Review
| Free Verse | Poems that have no rules or patterns |
| Dialogue | spoken words- uses quotation marks ” ” Ex: “Hello,” I said. |
| Main Message | What the author wants you to learn from the story. |
| Imagery | When the author uses descriptive language to get the reader to picture it in their mind- includes senses |
| Appeals | Shows For example: This appeals (or shows) the reader’s sense of smell/taste/sight/sound/touch |
| Synonym | Meaning the SAME thing |
| The most likely reason | Best reason |
| Plot | The events, or what happens, in the story |
| Summary | Stating the main events that happened in the story. Characters, Problem, Resolution (CPR) for fiction. |
| Theme | The message (Theme and main message are synonyms) |
| Poem | Descriptive writing that follows a rhythm, could rhyme. |
| Poet | A person who composes, or writes, poems. Ex: The poet, Shel Silverstein, wrote many poems. |
| Line | Each row of text is a line |
| Stanza | A group of lines in a poem ‘Poetry’s little paragraphs’ |
| Five Senses | See, smell, taste, hear, touch |
| Support | Details in the text that help you find the answer |
| Paragraph | A section of the story. These are numbered. |
| Resolution | How the problem/conflict was solved |
| Description | Used to describe something Ex: The ice cream sundae was smothered in hot fudge, fluffy whip cream and creamy caramel. The description of the ice cream made me so hungry! |
| Infer/Inference | To use background knowledge plus text evidence to come up with an answer |
| Section | A part of the story/selection |
| Evidence | Proof in the text to support your answer Ex: In paragraph 7, Marie said , “I don’t like spaghetti.” Therefore, I know she didn’t pick that to eat for dinner. |
| Author | The person who wrote the story/selection |
| Illustration | A hand drawn picture |
| Selection | The WHOLE story |
| Photograph | A real picture (NOT hand drawn) |
| Most likely reason | The best reason (what makes the most sense?) |
| Opinion | NOT a fact Ex: Blue is the best color. |
| Central idea | what the story or section is MOSTLY about |
| Predict | using clues to decide what you think will happen |
| Audience | Who the author is talking to Ex: Students, teachers, children, adults, etc. |
| Addressing | Talking to Ex: The teacher was addressing the class when she spoke about behavior. |
| Prefix | Comes BEFORE the root word Ex: REuse (‘re’ is the prefix) |
| Suffix | Come AFTER the root word Ex: thankFUL (‘ful’ is the suffix) |
| Conclude | To come to a conclusion-similar to an inference |
| Imagery | Using your senses |
| Subheading | A section of the story that is bolded that tells you what a SECTION of the story will be about. |
| Contribute | share |
4th Grade PSTAAR Review
| The most likely reason | The best reason |
| Paragraph | A section of the story. These are numbered. |
| Theme | The message (theme and main message are synonyms) What is the author trying to teach you? |
| Infer/Inference | To use background knowledge (what you already know) plus text evidence to come up with an answer |
| resolution | How the problem/conflict was solved |
| Resolved | solved |
| Suggest | Show |
| Selection | The WHOLE story |
| Section | A PART of the story/selection |
| Main message | What the author is trying to teach you Ex: Treat others with kindness. |
| Illustration | Hand drawn picture |
| Suffix | Comes after the root word Ex: thankFUL (‘ful’ is the suffix) |
| Poet | The person who wrote the poem |
| Summary | Stating the main events that happened in the story. Characters, Problem, resolution (CPR) for fiction. |
| Differ | Different |
| Similarity | How are they similar, or the same? |
| Photograph | A real picture (NOT hand drawn) |
| Conclude | To come to a conclusion-similar to an inference |
| Stage direction | Tells the character what to do- This will be in parentheses. Ex: (smiling) Hey! How are you? |
| definition | What a word means |
| Dictionary Entry | A vocabulary question that will give four definition choices to choose from |
| Line | The lines spoken by characters in a drama |
| Anecdote | A short story |
| First-person | Uses first-person pronouns (I, me, we) |
| Subheading | A section of the story that is bolded that tells you what a SECTION of the story will be about. |
| Central idea | What the story of section is MOSTLY about |
| Claim | Your main argument |
| Problem and Solution organizational text structure | The way the story is organized. Ex: The problem may be that there is pollution, so the story would then tell solutions to the problem. |
5th Grade PSTAAR Review
| Dictionary Entry | A vocabulary question that will give four definition choices to choose from |
| Definition | What a word means |
| Sub-heading | A section of the story that is bolded that tells you what a SECTION of the story will be about |
| Summary | Stating the main events that happened in the story. characters, Problem, resolution (CPR) for fiction. |
| Suffix | Comes after the root word Ex: thankFUL (‘ful’ is the suffix) |
| Playwright | The person who wrote the play |
| Simile | A type of figurative language that compares two things USING ‘like’ or ‘as’ Ex: She was as sweet as pie. |
| Conflict | problem |
| resolution | How the problem was solved |
| Author | The person that wrote the story |
| Selection | The WHOLE story |
| Section | A PART of the story/selection |
| Plot | the series of events that happen in the story |
| Theme | main message in the story- What the author is trying to teach you. Ex: Always be honest and kind. |
| Infer/Inference | To use background knowledge (what you already know) plus text evidence to come up with an answer |
| Similar | alike |
| Differ | different |
| Claim | Your main argument |
| Paragraph | A section of the story. These are numbered. |
| Stage directions | Tells the character what to do or how to act- This will be in parentheses. Ex: (smiling) Hey! How are you? |
| Conclude | To come to a conclusion-similar to an inference |
| Cause and effect organizational text structure | The way the story is organized. Ex: Because it snowed, we didn’t have school. |
| Compare and contrast organizational text structure | The way the story is organized. Ex: Sarah is very outgoing and talks all the time, but Sally is very quiet and shy. |
| Photograph | A real picture (NOT hand drawn) |
| Central Idea | What the story of section is MOSTLY about |