Teaching

Character
Traits
Define

Character traits- the way a person or a character in a book acts: its a part of
their personality and it comes from inside
Character emotions- usually fleeting feelings that may be due to an outside
force, such as good news
List the Traits
With chart paper have the students tell you all the different character traits they
know. Then have a discussion as to whether some words were true character
traits or passing emotions. The students can also use sticky notes to jot down any
traits they discover during their independent reading time over the next two days.
Make a Connection
Sort the traits into positive, negative, neutral, and then have the students pick
some of the words that describe them.
Digging Deeper
At this point, students begin to analyze their characters and provide text
evidence that helps them infer or draw conclusions about a characters traits
based on what the character says, thinks, feels, and does. In order to do this,
students indicated a character's traits on a chart, and provided the evidence
that led to that conclusion.
Model
Practice as a whole class
Independent practice

Books

To
Use

This sheet talks about three common student misconcep4ons, and things that they nd
dicult when learning about character traits. It also discusses ways in which to avoid
these.
1. VOCABULARY

One of the biggest issues is vocabulary. Most kids are familiar with the basic emotions sad,
happy, mad. But words that describe traits, such as compassionate, driven, and selfish, are
often new or not understood. You can work to build their vocabulary by including many read
alouds with rich discussions about the characters. List the traits that you come across on
anchor charts or in notebooks, illustrate different traits, and use that vocabulary in the day-today of the classroom as much as possible! Any book with a strong character can be used for
teaching traits (sample books are listed on this sheet).

2. OUTSIDE VS INSIDE

Kids often have difficulty in understanding the

difference between what can be seen on the outside
and what the character is like on the inside. Ask
younger students to describe a character and youll
often get a description of their physical features. Help
kids understand the difference between physical traits
and personality traits.
Physical traits can be seen with our eyes.
Personality traits- you use what we know about the
character: their actions, choices, words, thoughts,
feelings and more. We must use all of those clues to
draw conclusions about the personality of the
character. A few read alouds, an anchor chart, a few
class discussions, and some notes in a journal will help
to clear up the confusion.

3. EMOTIONS VS TRAITS

Another area of confusion is the difference between

emotions and character traits. Many students want to
describe a character as angry because the
character was angry at one point in the story. Or theyll
say a character is sad because she cried. The
emotion might be correct for the situation, but when
were talking character traits, kids need to think bigger
picture.
Ask students to think of a time they were angry about
something and share with a partner. Next, ask Would
you describe yourself as an angry person? Allow for
some discussion. Help kids see the difference between
how you felt at a certain time and how you tend to
behave all the time. A trait is true all or much of the
time. An emotion is true only for that situation.

Ways To Respond

To Character Traits
1. At First I Thought, Now I Think
In this type of response you are comporting how the character and their perceived
traits change from the beginning of the story to the end.
For instance:
-In the beginning of the book The Wolfs Chicken stew
by: Keiko Kasza, the wolf seems scheming, manipulative, and
intelligent. By the end of the book, the wolf seems caring, and kind.
2. Write a letter to a character in the book or a letter from
one character to another.
3. Compare a character in your book to a character in
another book you have read.
4. Write about which character do you think will change the
most by the end? Why?

Potential

Books To Use

Common Core
Standards
Anchor Standard
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the
course of a text.
Grade Level Standard
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain
how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

Character Traits

ate

Reading Response

Book Title:_________________________________
Author:

______________________________________________________________

Book Title: _____________________________________________________

Minutes Read: __________

Author:______________________________

Trait(s)

Dialogue

Pages Read: ______

Pages Read: __________

Actions

Feelings