Character Traits Made Simple

04 December 2015 / Leave a Comment


Character traits can be tricky for students to understand.  But we can work with them to make it easier.

This week I began working with character traits with my fourth-grade students.  We started simple when I showed them this picture and asked them to tell me a little about the characters.

First they told me what they did as their professions, but I made them dig a little deeper and look at their faces and expressions to tell a little more of the story.

They said the reporter looked confused because his face was all scrunched up.  He didn't really know what to say.  The cameraman was determined to get the best picture because of the way he was standing.  They even thought he could be upset because his camera had broken.  Funny the way they think!



Then I read a book to them that had a strong main character for us to work together to figure out the character traits.  We read Trouble With Trolls by Jan Brett.

After reading the book, here is our character Thinking Map.

Not only did we describe Treva, but we gave examples to show more about her traits and explain why she is like she is.

Later in the week, I plan to work with my character traits task cards with them. They have little stories on them to tell about a character and then figure out the character trait.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Character-Traits-Task-Cards-988809
Christmas Character Trait Cards

Snowpals Character Traits Cards
How do you help students get a handle on character traits?


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