Character Traits & Currently

Before we went on break (almost over... :( ), I did a really fun lesson with my kids on Character Traits. You may remember me talking about changing the way I run the Literacy Block for the week, and having a 'fun Friday' type thing, but focusing on skills I think they needed.

Well, thanks to a Snow Day, and a Professional Day, I finally got to do my Character Traits lesson I had planned.

O.M.G! They LOVED it!

I started off by asking them to give adjectives about me (if they were telling someone about me and only had one word, what would they say?)

Then I asked them to prove it. What makes you say that about Miss M? Give an example.

We talked about how people show/demonstrate their character traits/personality...while I made an anchor chart :)

 After that, (before we added the adjectives to the chart) I read Hooway for Wodney Wat. We talked about what kind of traits Wodney (Rodney) had, and how we could prove it.  (That's him on the chart...no judging please :)

Then we started adding the adjectives to the chart, and talking about what they mean.

I had gathered a variety of picture books, and found this fabulous freebie from Tessa at Tales from Outside the Classroom

Source: classroomfreebies.com via Emily on Pinterest

 I scattered the books all around the room (and told the kids that they needed to stay where I put them), and then set them free to fill out their sheets (after I modeled how to do it using Wodney Wat and SkippyJon Jones!). I told them that they could choose as many books as they wanted.

As I was walking around, I noticed that, with one or two exceptions...they got it! AND, they were super quiet. (They are normally quietish anyway-but this was dead silent!). They were so engaged, and those that were talked were talking about the lesson.

These are the books I chose (pulled from my Mentor Text Library (not accessible to kids), and Picture Book Library (accessible to kids), but you could chose whatever you wished. I picked books that I thought had strong characters, with easy to identify character traits and support.

Eggbert: The Slighly Cracked Egg; Ruby the CopyCat; Chrysanthemum

Swimmy; Sloppy Joe; Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

Weslandia; Diary of a Worm; The Greedy Python

Chester; Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink; Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type

Giggle, Giggle, Quack; Mother, You're the Best, But Sister, You're a Pest; Wemberly Worried

Substitute Creature

By having them use easy to read picture books, they could really focus on the skill, and not struggle as much with trying to figure out words/meaning. Soon they'll be able to do this on their level!

As we were standing in line for dismissal, the kids told me that they loved the lesson. I told them that we would be doing 'Fun Friday' every Friday and we would switch off on focusing on Reading and Writing. Next up, Poetry! (This brought some smiles!)

Next up: Currently! I can't believe it's March already! Only 4 months left of school.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn