With all of the anticipation for Halloween and Trick or treating, it is a great time to talk about characters and character traits. We go through a series of stories (like the ones below) learning about a character's physical traits and about their behavior traits. Then we end by the week of Halloween. The kiddos get to wear a costume based on a favorite story and then they can describe their costume's character traits (using the freebie below). It is so much fun. The kiddos love actually becoming their characters by taking on the traits they believe they would have.
To begin this unit, I love to introduce character traits using the book Shelia Rae The Brave by Kevin Henkes.
Shelia has so many wonderful traits that are easily spotted in this book. It makes for great book talk and modeling opportunities with the kiddos.
I continue this unit using my ALL TIME FAVORITE Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Williems.
These books are excellent because the kiddos can actually connect to these characters on a personal level. The students can see how Gerald and Piggie have almost the same traits in each book. These books also make it simple for students to be able to compare characters to each other. I only read about 6 of these books to begin with (even though I own every.single.one.). We work through describing the physical and behavior traits together and then comparing Gerald and Piggie to each other. Finally, I read Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo Williems. This book is so very interesting because the characters behaviors actually switch places. It is so fun to watch my students little light bulbs come on and wonder how that can happen!
If you would like to see more of my Character Trait activites you can click here.
(UGH! That cover is so ugly! One of my first TpT products in need of an update....coming soon!)
By this time we are closer to Halloween. Students are able to come to school in a Character costume. We spend some time early in the day analyzing and describing their costume's character traits using everything we learned. Then the students must act like their character all day. They actually become their characters. They love, love this part! You can click here to download this Halloween Character Mapping FREEBIE from my TpT store!
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To continue on the blog hop, just click here to head on over to my pal Elaine from Kitty Kitty Kindergarten and see what treats she has up her sleeves for you!
