Character Traits

Teaching character traits gives students insights into what a character might do.  In the Magic Treehouse Books; Jack writes notes about the places they are going to visit and likes to be prepared.  We see this trait through out the books where he is cautious before going to a new place and as he travels around in the new place.  To teach character traits, I read the book, The Farmer, by Mark Ludy and used the anchor chart above.  I told the students that what a character does, gives us evidence to describe a character trait.  I read a page or two of the book, The Farmer, and stopped and asked the students; what did the farmer do, and what character trait would that be.  Examples from the book would be; he scratches the cow and is affectionate; he pulls the weeds and is a hard worker; he replants his crops and is persistent and patient; he takes care of the animals when a disaster strikes and is brave and caring; he gives food to his neighbors and is helpful and unselfish.
After I read the story we discussed if the farmer and the Frumps were flat or round.  Flat means the character stayed the same, and round means they changed.  We thought that the farmer was flat because he always worked hard, was loving and caring throughout the story.  We thought that the Frumps were round.  In the beginning of the story they were careless and selfish.  At the end of the story they were giving and kind.
Ex. of character traits are: silly, honest, selfish, gentle, considerate, hostile, cruel, friendly, creative, inventive, lazy, persistent, bossy, daring, adventurous, brave, timid, mischievous, wise, and cunning.
Also, discuss with your students the motivation of the character. What did the character want, and what did the character do to try to get it.  In the book Swimmy, the fish wanted to survive.  In order to survive they worked together as a team. WHEN DISCUSSING CHARACTER TRAITS AND MOTIVATION OF THE CHARACTERS, IT WILL IMPROVE STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE STORY!

Character traits from Swimmy using wordle
Next, read a different book and have students come up with character traits.  Above, the students made fish out of paper plates and wrote character traits using wordle.  Then I put them up on a bulletin board. 

Character traits of Pa Ingalls

Anchor Chart: Books Follow Patterns

This anchor chart is made with a file folder and post it notes.  Tell students that our brains are like file folders.  Everything we know is stored in our brains. This is called our schema. There are things that we know.  We know that if we go to a grocery store, there is food.  We know that libraries contain books.  We know that a zoo has animals.  Fiction books contain patterns.  We know they contain; characters, setting (the problem is influenced by where the story took place and when; such as in the past / present/ or future), conflict (CLIMAX), resolution (not all stories have resolutions / pay attention to how the characters try to solve the problem) and author's message.  The post it notes can be taken off of the file folder and a student can identify part of a story, such as the characters, and put it back on the file folder.

Comprehension Check with Eggs

Comprehension Check With Eggs

Put questions into plastic eggs. Great manipulative! Questions:   What surprised you about this book?  What could be another title for this story?  What is the author's message?  What words helped you to visualize this story?  Was the main character flat  (stay the same) or round (change)?  What are some character traits of the main character?  What was the conflict of the story?  What connections can you make to your life?  What connections can you make to history or the world?  What is the resolution in the story? What is the setting? What is another problem the character could of had? 

Word Work With Wiki Sticks

Students practice  spelling words by making them with wiki sticks.  This can be done on paper or a plastic mat.  Next, students place a white sheet of paper over the wiki sticks and make a crayon rubbing.

Visualization

Visualization

Visualization is seeing images in your mind as you read. It involves all of your senses.   It is like seeing a movie in your mind.  Visualization will enhance students reading comprehension.  To teach visualization, read a book and stop periodically and describe to students what you see. Next, read a book and have the students describe what they see.  This is a great site with videos to enhance your lesson.   http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/visualizing/index.html 
A visualization activity to do after reading a book is called split image.    Have students draw an image from the book with oil pastels.  The students then take a Kleenex or Qtip and smear the colors around.  This is a link to a video that teaches how to use oil pastels.  http://www.ehow.com/video_2381514_blend-oil-pastels.html  When they are done, they cut the picture into thirds, making straight cuts down.  Next, they paste it onto colored paper leaving a space between. These pictures can then be used as a class bulletin board with visualization as the heading.

Split image art activity

Another art activity that corresponds to visualization involves character puppets and paper bag setting.  Students draw the setting onto paper bags.  Then they draw the characters on paper and glue them onto a popsicle stick.  Next, the students  retell  part of the story  with the puppets and setting.   These pictures can also be used as a bulletin board.

Character puppets and paper bag setting

Stamp A Story: Teaching word choice

The multicolored rainbow glistened in the blue sky.

First, read aloud a book that is rich in word choice and point out the descriptive language to students.  Next,  students look up synonyms in a thesaurus and write them down on a foldable. Then, I write sentences and model for them how I would change the sentences to make it sound more interesting. Then, the students make a picture with stamps and crayons and  write 3 sentences to go with their picture. The students edit their sentences by adding or changing words using the thesaurus and their schema. Last, the students make a picture with ink stamps and crayons.  Then, they write a story and edit it with a thesaurus and their schema. Stamp a story can then be used as a center or daily five activity!

                                                  Students write synonyms on a foldable

WORD WORK WITH SANDPAPER

It's easy, fun, and increases retention!  Students put sandpaper underneath white paper.  Next, the students write spelling words with crayons on top of the white paper ( the sandpaper is underneath). The students take away the sandpaper and trace over the letters with their fingers and say the letter names or letter sounds. They will be able to feel raised bumps when they trace the letters.  Students can: trace and chant, trace and whisper or trace and say. 

students write spelling words on top of white paper with sandpaper  underneath

students trace with their fingers and say letter names