You can see the Character Traits Reading Puzzles in my TPT store here. Yay for reading strategies! So, when you are choosing mentor texts for your character instruction look for one (or more) character(s) who display their traits through actions and feelings. Keeping this anchor chart handy is another way to support your students' literary skills. This is a skill that must persist and be practiced throughout the school year. See our entire gingerbread book study here: Comparing Character Traits.
Finally, students should be able to use what they've learned about the characters and explain how it affects the plot. As if character traits aren't complicated enough, many characters change and grow over time. See our entire lesson with this link: How A Character Responds to Challenges. Students must be able to differentiate between what a character looks like – their appearance – and their internal character. Here are a few ways you can offer some fun additional practice: Now that you've read about how you can get students to think deeply about characters and their traits, I'm sure you're ready to tackle this in your classroom. Whether this is your first year teaching reading or you're looking for some new ideas to incorporate into your classroom, my hope is you'll find some ideas and ready-to-use resources you can add to your lesson plans for this skill. Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon, lends itself to so many RL standards. Often this is how a given character's traits, motivations, or feelings impact the problem of the story or lead to its solution. Identifying character traits is an important foundational skill. Click here to see Story Element Reading Spinners on TPT. The next component of this lesson is my favorite part! But, don't take that chart down! Identify and record examples of a character's actions and feelings.
Another topic I teach with Little Grunt and the Big Egg is visualizing what the author is saying or describing. Comparing Character Traits. I love teaching character traits! There are a number of really good projects, like doing Wordles on the computer, or making silhouettes, but I usually have the kids draw cartoon caricatures which they label. Differentiate Between Emotions & Traits. You'll find you can spiral character analysis skill practice throughout the year and can progressively raise your expectations as students become more proficient. Creating this anchor chart about accountable talk will let your students have a better understanding of what is on-topic and relevant to mention in their group discussions. After reading, use the free flipbooks to help your students document the traits they observed. The snowman is melting. If you're worried about students' reading levels or you have a very diverse group of learners, the lesson below outlines a great way to begin teaching this skill because it doesn't even require students to use text for the initial lessons. It's important for kids to know the difference between a character's emotions and their traits.
I love choosing fiction in the form of mentor texts because they are short but oh, so rich! Teaching your students about self-regulation will allow them to learn about different strategies they can use to work through solving their problems. Then, they will look at that evidence in order to determine the traits that they show for the character. My absolute favorite Tomie book is the Art Lesson. See all of our first day activities and the pricless ways we use this book: First Day of School. We like the clean look and detailed examples on this one. In addition to complying with OFAC and applicable local laws, Etsy members should be aware that other countries may have their own trade restrictions and that certain items may not be allowed for export or import under international laws. It's a good way to note that most characters are a mix of positive and negative traits too.