Teaching Character Traits

Whether you're teaching second graders to simply identify and describe characters or you're having fifth graders compare and contrast characters between the beginning and end of the story or between two stories, they need to have a good grasp of character traits.

Like with any skill, repeated practice and exposure is the key to your students truly understanding and mastering the skill. As I'm planning for the week ahead, I'm racking my brain and resources for character traits ideas and activities. After coming up a wee bit short, I turned to Pinterest and the world wide web. What follows is simply a collection of resources, ideas, and activities I have found and plan on tweaking to meet the needs of my kiddos. I do NOT take credit for any of these great ideas, simply passing along some great resources in one location.

Starting with a Mentor Text

 At Lesson Plan SOS there is a great activity use the story Bad Case of the Stripes. Her blog not only contains info on this great idea, but also several other mini-lessons and activities using the same book. Here is a link to her Camilla Character Trait FREEBIE!!

Providing Hand-outs & Resources for Students

 Although you don't want students to become dependent on a list of traits, it is definitely a great thing to use in the beginning and to serve as a reference throughout the application of the skill. It's also a great writing resource to help them expand their vocabulary. 

Here is one such Character Trait list. It's from the blog Workshop Classroom, and I especially love this one because it breaks the traits up into categories and categorizes them. I think that this would be great for ELL students and those who need a little extra support. Here's a direct link to the FREEBIE.

 

Here is another list. This one is from Totally Terrific in Texas' blog. She includes the list and a character map via a google doc. (Also a FREEBIE!)

 Interactive Notebook Fold-able for Hands-on Practice

 One your kiddos have learned how to use a character's words, thoughts, and actions to infer a character trait, it's time for them to practice. We are currently reading the novel Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, so I am going to have my kids analyze the characters in the chapters we are reading. Instead of just giving them a worksheet, I'm going to have them do a fold-able to put in their interactive reading notebook. Here is an example of one possible foldable to use by Teaching in Wonderland. (Bonus: It's a FREEBIE!)

Fun "Skill to Self" Connection Activity

Over at Adventures of Room 129's blog, there's a super cute idea for kids to  create a frame that gives them the chance to display some of their own character traits. I' m thinking that after kids create their frame, I'll give them a chance to pick one trait that describes them to share with a partner and then give 'evidence' from their life to prove that it's an accurate trait to describe themselves. For further connection and rigor, kids can then think of a character from a story they have read that shares the same character trait. 

Do you have any other great ideas? I'd love to hear them and "borrow" them for my classroom :) Feel free to put them in the comments below.

Making Inferences About Characters

Whether students are just starting second grade or in the last days of fifth grade, students need instruction and practice with making inferences. In upper elementary inferencing can be combined with other objectives and activities like analyzing characters and novel discussions.

My students are currently reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. To build on our work with inferences yet diversify the standard making inferences graphic organizer & activity, I came up with an interactive, group activity in which students make inferences about characters in a particular chapter. It's super easy to adapt to any novel or story and to tweak things to meet the needs of your students.

1. Select three or four characters from a particular chapter.
    I chose Melody, Mom, and Dr. Hugely from Chapter 4.

2. On a large piece of bulletin board paper (or chart paper), write each character's name across the top. Approximately six inches under each character, glue/tape a large picture of a book (represents text clues). About six inches below each book, glue/tape a large picture of a light bulb (represents inferences).

3. Split students into groups of 3 or 4 and assign each a different character. Students return to the chapter and find facts/details about their character. They record their facts on post-its and post them on the book icon under their character's name.

4. After listing several facts, students use the facts and their prior knowledge to make inferences about the character in that chapter. They record their inferences on post-its and post them on the light bulb icon. 
For groups that needed scaffolding, I gave them some questions to guide their inferences. (For Melody- 'How was she feeling about the testing?', 'How do you think she felt about school?', 'What was her opinion of Dr. Hugely?'; For Dr. Hugely- 'What was his opinion of Melody's intelligence?', 'What was his reactions to her answers?')

5. The activity can end with students making the inferences or it can be a spring board for a small group or whole class discussion.


The beauty about this activity is that if you use an index card to write the characters' names, the large graphic organizer is reusable. Also, if multiple groups are doing the activity, you can take the post-it notes and stick them on a piece of construction paper and label them with the group's name so you can check their work at a later time and know whose work it is.