Lesson Plan Title: Character Traits in Writing

Date:
Subject: ELA Grade: 4
Topic: Narrative Writing Essential Question: How can we describe characters in stories?

Materials:
Character Traits List
Character traits sheet to fill out

Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language

What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?
Describe Character traits

Outcome(s):

Stage 2- Assessment

Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine next steps.

Student worksheets, discussions

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they have learned.
Stage 3- Learning Plan

Motivational/Anticipatory Set (introducing topic while engaging the students)

Begin with morning message: “ ‘The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’ is a sentence which uses every
letter in the English alphabet. It also has two adjectives in it that are character traits, and one adjective is
simply describing what one character looks like. Can we find the character traits and give them an extra box?
Remember that character traits are adjectives that make the character act a certain way. A silly character will
tell jokes and do silly things, and a proud character will often talk about themselves or want others to see
what a great person they are.

Main Procedures/Strategies:
Remind students that character traits are different from appearances, which are how characters look, or
emotions, which are how characters feel. Character traits make characters ACT a certain way. Show students
an example of a filled character charts, stressing that the TRAITS are connected to the things the character
does.

Adaptations/Differentiation:

Closing of lesson:

Personal Reflection:
Name of Book (or Story): __Mr. Popper’s Penguins__
Character name: Mr. Popper
Descriptions of the character:
Character Traits: Messy, Daydreamer, Easily distracted,
Curious, Busy, Studious, Loving, Happy
Character appearance: Funny-looking, has a big
mustache
Some things the character did:
Painted 3 walls of a kitchen green and the other side
yellow
Wished he had seen the North and South Poles
Watched movies and read books about the North and
South Poles
Painted and wallpapered many houses
Lived in Stillwater with Mrs. Popper, Bill, and Janie
Name of Book (or Story): My Imagination
Character name: Suzie Cruzy
Descriptions of the character:
Character Traits: Kind, Brave, Adventurous, Impulsive,
Reckless
Character appearance: Blue hair, wears a shield on her
back
Some things the character did:
Went on an adventure to the magic islands
Met some monsters and tried to fight them
Fell into a monster trap
Talked to the monsters when she was in the cage
Complimented the monster by saying it had nice blue
fur
Became friends with the blue monster
Got rescued from the cage
Name of Book (or Story): Holes
Character name: Zero (Hector Zeroni)
Descriptions of the character:
Character Traits: Quiet, hardworking, withdrawn, smart,
determined, lonely, cooperative, honest, proud, reckless
Character Appearance: Short, skinny, dark frizzy hair
Some things the character did:
Stole Clyde Livingston’s shoes
Dug lots of holes quickly at Camp Green Lake
Learned how to read
Ran away from Camp Green Lake
Hid under an old boat and drank old canned peaches
Walked to “God’s Thumb” mountain
Helped Stanley find his great-grandfather's suitcase
Hired an investigator to find his own mom
Had a party with Stanley, his mom, Stanley’s parents,
and Clyde Livingston as they watched a commercial for
Stanley’s Dad’s invention
Name of Book (or Story): _____________________________
Character name: ____________________________________
Descriptions of the character:
Character Traits: _________________________________
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Character appearance: ___________________________
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Some things the character did: _____________________
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