Swbat notice character traits in books from their browsing boxes. Young people need guidance from caring adults to build strong, positive character traitsbut they can also build their own. This is one of my alltime favorite books and favorite character traits to teach. After reading the story with my students i wanted to write to you all about how using books such as this one to teach can be very beneficial for your.
It might be a book on fairness after an especially tough recess, a book on honesty after someones eraser collection goes missing, or maybe a book on perseverance to let a student who is feeling challenged know that it will all work out. Use this activity with books where you want to teach the elements of character development. I chose the following 6 books to teach character traits, character feelings, and character actions. The character trait links above provide free ideas, activities, and printables you can use when teaching character traits to your elementary students. Teaching about character traits in reading can be challenging but fun. I chose stories with strong and visible characters. I visited our school library and got the tales of anansi, eric carles books such as the grouchy ladybug and others, kevin henkes titles, the franklin series and some fairytales. Books that teach emotions and character building traits are an invaluable resource for parents. Best books to teach good character all through the year the write stuff teaching. This blog post contains everything you need for a complete character traits lesson. A unit for teaching 2ndgrade students how to understand literary characters samantha s.
This book by the bestselling author of the kids guide to social action invites children and teens to explore and practice honesty, kindness, empathy, integrity, tolerance, patience, respect, and more. Whether this is your first year teaching reading or youre looking for some new ideas to incorporate into your classroom, my hope is youll find some ideas and readytouse resources you can add to your lesson plans for this skill. Books should definitely teach us good character traits, says sherri carden, author of the childrens series mocha latte with a dash of chili. Fables also have the added short text bonus, which i love for practicing skills. What is good character talking with trees character. Some of the books in the list below have been beloved bedtime reading books of our kids. A person with good character acts, thinks, and feels in a way that matches some commonly accepted good traits, like being honest, respectful, responsible, caring, fair. Analyzing how characters think, feel, and act depending on the point of view students can infer traits about that character and see the character grow or change throughout a text. This is a suggested list onlyplease feel free to add your. Selecting good books for your students is important for many different reasons. Teaching students about character traits is powerful. Books with character development themes tied to literacy in selecting the books for curricular inclusion the goal was to find good stories which were currently in print or widely available in library collections that exemplify the character traits identified for the program. Auggie, the main character, says in this book, i know i cant change the way i look, but maybe people can change the way they see. Quotations and background information set the stage.
Cooperation, working together testing miss malarkey judy finchler grades 2. Some of my favorite books are the ones we can read over. Your how to teach character traits guide classroom freebies. Books to teach character traits, feelings, and actions susan jones. Encourage students to choose three or four character traits that they can use to describe the character.
Teach upper elementary students about character traits by having them analyze their characters feelings, actions, thoughts, and dialogue within the story. This is especially useful in chapter books, but if youre dealing with a particularly young group, the right picture book could also suffice. Picture books to support character education lessons picture books expand childrens experiences and provide opportunities for classroom discussion. I want my students to be able to identify the inner and outer character traits of main characters as well as their actions and feelings. Action clues character traits are revealed through the actions and reactions of the character. Mentor texts to teach characters, character traits, how they change. The good news is that providing them with scaffolds and a variety of examples can. Character traits are the heart of a story line, especially since a characters behavior and intentions are the driving force behind. The following picture books reflect positive character traits including the traits outlined in the popular six pillars of character program. I tell my students that a character trait is the way a person or a character in a book acts. Character traits are the individual characteristics and qualities that make characters from books, stories, movies, plays, and other art forms come to life for readers use the following list of character traits as a guideline when writing book reports and essays about the different characters youve read about. Students must read the task card, and then use the clues to make an inference about a characters traits. Second grade lesson characters and their traits day 1 of 3. Today i wanted to share a not so little snippet about teaching character analysis.
These are good to use when teaching character lessons or to hang up and to refer to as. I like to start with short, simple books like no, david. I made an effort every year to set some specific read aloud time available in my. Character traits and the books that teach them lessons. Please note that the links below are affiliate links. Teaching positive character traits teach positive character traits with these books and free printable character trait teaching resources. I love take my favorite books to teach character traits and analyze one character together building our vocabulary. How to teach character traits so all students can master it. As september rolls along every year, we begin to meet our characters in different stories. Due to demand, orders are shipping in 710 business days. How to best teach character traits in upper elementary. Fables are another treasure trove resource for character traits because the writers often portrayed them in simplistic or sometimes exaggerated ways to make sure that the readers got the point of the story without much trouble. Providing students with a list of character traits is helpful. In this lovely hawaiian story, koa, along with all the other local boys, is given a seed to grow to determine who will take over to be the next leader of the village.
This is an important step because it allows readers to see a character progressing along a line within a story, with all the ups and downs. A bad case of stripes this was a great book start start with since her external traits are so interesting, and her internal traits are also pretty easy to pick out as well. Get started with the character scrapbook using these exceptional titles. I sometimes find myself looking for a book to read to my class that will serve as an example of good character or act as a literary pep talk.
Here are some of my favorite books to use to teach character traits, in the order i have used them in the past. Written for children grades k4, our engaging stories teach honesty, respect, conscience and more through the voice of wise, caring trees. So late last school year, i developed this chart of character traits with the intention of helping students organize their thinking when selecting a character trait. This is also a great way to teach about stereotypes by juxtaposing how students think the character will behave based on stereotypes against how the character actually behaves. After reading each book, we discuss each character, what character traits were. Looking for some great picture books for teaching character traits in. Teaching character traits in reading the teacher next door. When children recognize good and bad character traits they can identify the behavior that causes them, which will help shape their overall personality and character. Children books that teach good character traits youtube. Teaching positive character traits talking with trees books.
Good traits may also be called good values or good morals. See more ideas about teaching character, teaching and reading workshop. This is a suggested list onlyplease feel free to add your own books. Teaching character traits in readers workshop scholastic. Books can motivate their development as readers, stretch their comprehension. These character traits task cards are a fun way for students to practice the vocabulary associated with character traits. Building character through literacy with childrens literature. Younger students may identify the physical characteristics of a character while more advanced students may delve deeper, analyzing what the character feels and thinks. These are character trait posters for 159 different traits of personalities. The task was for them to read and find four character traits. There are a number of really good projects, like doing wordles on the. Here are some of my favorite readalouds for teaching character traits. This book, spaghetti in a hot dog bun is another great book for the beginning of the school year, but is great to pull back out when teaching about character.
As the teacher, i always like to choose rich texts with tons of learning opportunities for our read alouds. Teaching characterization with short films just add students. Whether you are trying to introduce a new character trait such as kindness or responsibility or trying to correct a behaviour such as lying or hitting here are some of my favourite character education books for kids. I also talk about the characters feelings, how a characters feelings or traits affect the events in. These books are the perfect mentor texts to teach main character and character traits in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. The reading passages on the anchor chart, the sentence strip activity, and the interactive notebook foldable are all free.
The character is a strong character with many character traits to talk about. Identifying character traits is an important foundational skill. Books are one of the easiest and most fun ways to teach kids about emotions and character building traits. Books to teach character traits, feelings, and actions. Teaching character through literature here you will find all the titles beautiful feet books carries for our teaching character through literature study beautiful feet books. Show examples of good and bad character traits children should understand what good and bad character traits look like. Arnold, the invisible boy by trudy ludwig, lillys purple plastic purse by kevin henkes.
Books are a lovely way to introduce concepts to kids in a fun, memorable, and nonthreatening way. Traits are arranged in alphabetical order in the following categories. Teaching character through literature beautiful feet books. The activities included will work best for 3rd grade and 4th grade, although many of the activities could be adapted to. We call them good values or morals because they are traits societies generally agree help everyone to. Using books to teach character traits purposeful mommy. Teaching students what character traits are, and how to recognize.