Character Trait Activities

Summer is such a busy time of the year! Despite it being known as a time for a little R-n-R I have found myself being a busy bee and suddenly it is mid July. Where has it went? Knowing how fast time is zooming by, I have already found myself planning for the upcoming year. Reading is a subject that I find myself planning for a bit more than the others. Probably because it is one that instruction can vary from year to year and group to group. Plus, I love finding new novels to teach out of and inspire students to pick-up a book and grab onto reading.

I have been flying through books more than usual- for two reasons. One, I have gotten back into my nightly reading habit and two, I have found some really amazing books this summer that I can't put down. Check out my Instagram for a peek at those. 

I have made a sloppy copy on all of the mini-lessons I'd love to get through in the beginning of the year (it's way to messy to share at this point). Granted, they will take me a couple months; however I rarely find myself getting into guided reading before October with all the instruction and ground rules needed before we begin. After all, the more they understand the do's and don'ts in the beginning- the easier it is on me in the long run. So- I've decided on starting off the first couple of weeks with the basic story elements: character, setting, theme, conflict and plot structure of a text. Granted they will be revisited multiple times in the year. If you haven't checked out Linda Hoyt's Interative Read-Alouds book- do so. She has some amazing lesson plans for very common picture books. Plus each lesson is laid out so well- anyone can do it. She has it broken down to "on page ___ say this; ask that" I literally will write the questions down on post-it notes and stick them to the page.   I have found the kiddos love them just as much as I do. 

Next, I am diving into my first read-aloud novel. It's either Fish in a Tree  or Island of the Blue Dolphins. Both are amazing books and have strong characters- it will just depend on how many of my new kiddos have read Fish in a Tree already. Plus- they could both be considered narratives, which is the first genre of writing we cover in the year. 

The first mini-lesson is going to be on internal and external traits. I always find that when I ask a student if they can give a character trait for a specific character, they go to the physical appearance. However, there is more to a character than that. I found this great anchor chart over at teachertrap.com that I am going to adapt and use with the kiddos- which they will copy in their Reader's Notebooks. 

Then, we will work on creating a character trait chart for the main character- using evidence from the text to support our thinking. In order to help with this activity I am going to copy this character trait sheet from Read Write and Think. I am also going to introduce Ms. Leslie Ann's- A Trait A Day  to increase their vocabulary and give them some more ideas. 

Another resource that I absolutely LOVE from Ms. Leslie Ann is her Bloom's Taxonomy Ladders. I got them last year and used them very consistently with my students. There are both fiction and nonfiction- plus they can be used with any novel or passage and focus on higher order thinking skills. It was a great way for me to check my students comprehension on their independent and literature circle novels. I've also used her non-fiction ones for the students science textbooks. These are really a great resource and are super easy to use. 

The technology integration is going to come with Level 6 and I can not wait for my kiddos to complete this. If you haven't checked out the app Tellagami yet, do so!

 It is really great and can be used for many different types of projects in meaningful ways. Last year I had a student create a tellegami based on a character in his novel- he created the perfect job for him in the future. Not only did the student read the book,  wrote a passage on what he wanted to say, read it aloud fluently, but also thought creatively and used his critical thinking skills to justify. Lots of skills were wrapped up into this one meaningful technology project.

How great was that! As of now- this is what my brain has come up with. At least I am set for a couple of weeks. Check out last year's character trait's post for some examples of the read-aloud books I've used in the past.

Food For Thought

It's safe to say that teaching is something I love. Even amidst pages and pages of standards, high stakes tests and jumbling up a schedule in attempt to fit everything in. Granted, all of these examples are causes for crazy gymnastics moves (somedays) and reconfiguring daily schedules at the drop of a hat. However, teachers are known for needing to be flexible. Whether this flexibility arises from a daily event, a state test, a student issue, technology not cooperating like it did five minutes before, or a lesson not quite turning out as planned. Those 26+ sets of confused eyes can definitely haunt a teacher at night and require him/her to have ample amounts of coffee the next day.

 I am currently working on my next blog post- The Importance of Justifying and upon doing some research I came across this quote from Karen Tankersley's book, Literacy Strategies for Grades 4–12:

"Content instruction should strive for depth rather than breadth. To process what they read with insight and a critical eye, students must be able to consider the text as a whole and understand what the author is trying to communicate."

This quote got my wheels spinning, sidetracked my "in the works post" and is actually making me practice my own flexibility.  Why are teachers feeling the pressure of teaching content an inch thick and a mile wide, when the majority of students  don't understand the said material on a deeper level. Why are we okay with allowing surface level understanding to occur for students? Why are we willing to be flexible with everything else around us, but yet struggle with being flexible with the stack of content we get through each day or our methods of teaching it?

Time. Time is the big culprit. We want to use the time that we have as wisely as possible.  So what do we do? How can we make the most of it, teach everything we need to and do so in way that children gain a deep understanding? Through brainstorming, the one idea I keep coming back to is content area integration. Granted this is a whole different topic and requires a separate post. However, it could be a possible solution. 

"With an increase in content standards that teachers are required to cover and an increase in expectations of student performance, teachers need to teach more material in the same amount of time. Integrating curriculum allows for this. When teachers integrate literature in science or other content areas, students can focus not only content but also reading comprehension strategies in meaningful and memorable ways. Students will not only achieve gains across content areas but also improve their attitudes in content areas." ( Ansberry & Morgan, 2010)

To me, it sounds like Ansberry and Morgan are on to something. At least providing a little food for thought and material for a future post.