Lessons & Units

Character 2nd Grade Unit

Lessons

Lesson 1 Personality Traits Describe a character’s personality based on his/her actions, thoughts, and feelings.
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Lesson 2 Predicting Actions Predict a character’s actions based on his/her personality.
Julius, the Baby of the World
Julius, the Baby of the World
Lilly's Big Day
Lilly's Big Day
Lesson 3 Describing Characters with Rich Language Use descriptive language to describe a character’s personality.
Julius, the Baby of the World
Julius, the Baby of the World
Lilly's Big Day
Lilly's Big Day

Unit Extension Ideas

  • Predict the actions of characters in another fiction book and chart the predictions. As you read the book, have students discuss if their predictions about the characters were correct or incorrect.
  • For struggling readers, use a picture walk to make predictions about the character’s personality and actions.
  • Students can also make predictions about characters that are featured in a series of books. Examples include the Curious George series by H.A. Rey, the Arthur series by Marc Brown, and the Julian series by Ann Cameron. Read aloud several books in a series. Students can make predictions about the character’s actions based on what they know about his or her personality.
  • As you read a book aloud, stop periodically to have students record descriptive words about the characters. After reading the book, have students work with a partner to improve their list of words to make them more interesting.
  • Students can describe the main character’s personality in a book they are reading, incorporating some of the descriptive words from their list.
  • Have students write a description of a main character, including the character’s actions, feelings, thoughts, and personality. Then have the students exchange their descriptions and write a story using another student’s description.
  • Students can start a list of descriptive words and keep it in their journal or writing folder as a reference for writing.

Teacher and Student Materials

More Books for Teaching Character

Miss Nelson is Missing!

Miss Nelson is Missing!

Fountas and Pinnell
L
Lexile
340L
Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

Fountas and Pinnell
L
Lexile
680L
Nate the Great

Nate the Great

Fountas and Pinnell
K
Lexile
130L
Fox and His Friends

Fox and His Friends

Fountas and Pinnell
J
Lexile
200L
Officer Buckle and Gloria

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Fountas and Pinnell
L
Lexile
510L
Diary of a Worm

Diary of a Worm

Lexile
360L

Frog and Toad are Friends

Fountas and Pinnell
K
Lexile
400L

Write the chapter title and the main idea of each chapter on sentence strips. After reading the book, have students use the sentence strips to match the chapter title to the main idea of the chapter.

Arthur's Nose

Arthur's Nose

Lexile
350L

User Comments

I am using these ideas for students who need interventions! They are helpful in teaching comprehension skills/strategies

Submitted by pmarty_1207821 on 2/20/16

I am so grateful for this rich information.

Submitted by cora_597_1495924 on 10/23/15

excellent materials for teaching common core standards.

Submitted by cookie1pink on 8/16/15

Awesome teaching ideas that are related to curriculum in Manitoba

Submitted by phart_1073274 on 11/17/14