Lessons & Units :: Character Kindergarten Unit

Lesson 3: Main and Secondary Characters

Lesson Plan

Sheila Rae, the Brave | 440L

Sheila Rae, the Brave
Learning Goal
Distinguish between main and secondary characters.
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Direct Teaching Example Chart, Guided Practice Example Chart, Independent Practice Worksheet
Not Provided: Sheila Rae, the Brave by Kevin Henkes, Jamaica’s Find by Juanita Havill

  • Teacher Modeling

    will explain the difference between a main character and a secondary character. I will explain that the main character of a story usually appears on most of the pages in the book. I will do a picture walk through Sheila Rae, the Brave and tally the number of times each character appears in the story. I will identify Sheila Rae and Louise as the main characters since they appear more often than other characters in the story. (Example Chart is provided.)

  • Think Check

    Ask: "How did I know that Sheila Rae and Louise are the main characters in story?" Students should respond that you counted how many times the characters appeared in the story by looking at the pictures in the story.

  • Guided Practice

    will do a picture walk through Jamaica’s Find by Juanita Havill and tally the number of times each character appears in the story. We will discuss which characters appear more often and less often in the story to determine the main and secondary characters. (Example Chart is provided.)

    TIP: To help students keep track of the characters in the story, photocopy illustrations of the characters in the book and place them on the Guided Practice Chart next to the characters’ names.

  • Independent Practice

    will choose a picture book from the class library and do a picture walk through the book. You will identify one main character and one secondary character from the story. (Independent Practice Worksheet is provided.)

    TIP: Want to assess all 3 Learning Outcomes for this unit? Create a Unit Assessment by modifying the Independent Practice for Lesson 3 by having students use a new book. Be sure to ask students to draw a picture of what the main character looks like and retell an action taken by the character in the story.

Build Student Vocabulary tossed

Tier 2 Word: tossed
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story Jamaica tossed the stuffed dog onto the counter.
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) Tossed means thrown lightly. When Jamaica tossed the stuffed dog onto the counter, she threw it lightly.
Students repeat the word Say the word tossed with me: tossed.
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts My mother likes to make tossed salad for dinner. She makes it by putting vegetables in a bowl and lightly mixing them together. Sometimes I toss my pillows off of my bed during the night. I toss my dirty clothes into the hamper. He tossed the ball to his teammate.
Students provide examples When have you tossed something? Start by saying, “Once I tossed ____________.”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? tossed
Additional Vocabulary Words welcome, returned

Build Student Background Knowledge

Before teaching the lesson, explain that you are going to read a story about a girl named Jamaica. Jamaica is named after a country in the Caribbean Sea. The country is an island, which is land surrounded by a sea or ocean. Show a picture of the island of Jamaica to the class.

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

(To see all of the ReadWorks lessons aligned to your standards, click here.)

User Comments

I love the way this website uses specific texts to show the lesson and skills. I will be using the Sheila Rae, the Brave in with my students next week.

Submitted by akudonwachukwu_1619846 on 10/23/16

I like this lesson. I can't wait to use it with my students!

Submitted by daphne.linholm_1673630 on 11/2/15

I love this lesson! The book Jamaica's Find is a favorite of mine, so that's how I found this particular lesson. This fall I will be switching from teaching Pre-K (library) to K-5 and this website will be a good resource for lessons that I can use/revise/be inspired by to meet the needs of my own students. This will be my 5th year teaching and am excited to get to learn about Readworks. And I am writing this on the 4th of July, so you know that I'm anxious to get started!

A suggestion I have is the following: I'd like to be able to print the Common Core standards within the lesson plan document. For instance, I printed the 5-page lesson plan and now I have to print a separate page with the standards on it.

Submitted by Pizzalibrarian on 7/4/15

I really love this site. With CCSS, using other sites and my own files, teaching has been much better.

Submitted by Barth on 6/11/15