Lessons & Units :: Character 2nd Grade Unit

Lesson 1: Personality Traits

Lesson Plan

Learning Goal
Describe a character’s personality based on his/her actions, thoughts, and feelings.
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Character Personality Chart, Independent Practice, Independent Practice Answers
Not Provided: Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes, chart paper, markers

  • Teacher Modeling

    will explain that all people have a personality or character traits that make us unique. I will define personality as the character traits that a person has in their life. I will explain that everyone’s personality is different. I will describe my personality as kind, excited, and creative. I will explain that our actions, feelings, and thoughts help to create our personality. I will mention that characters in stories also have personalities based on their character traits. This makes all characters different from one another and one-of-a-kind. I will explain that one way we can think of a character’s personality is as a recipe. The ingredients, or what makes up their personality are their actions, thoughts, and feelings. We can use a character’s actions, thoughts, and feelings to figure out their personality. I will begin to read Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes stopping at page 8. (“When Mr. Slinger had bus duty, Lilly stood in line even though she didn’t ride the bus.”) I will begin to write a recipe for Lilly’s personality by charting her actions, thoughts, and feelings on the Character Personality Chart. I will explain how Lilly’s actions, thoughts, and feelings tell me about her personality. (Direct Teaching and Guided Practice Example Chart is provided in Teacher and Student Materials below.) Note: Save the Character Personality Chart for use with Lesson 2.

  • Think Check

    Ask: What did I do in order to describe Lilly's personality? Students should respond that you read the text and paid close attention to Lilly's actions, thoughts, and feelings. Then you thought about what type of person Lilly is based on her actions, thoughts, and feelings.

    TIP: If your students are having a hard time distinguishing between a character’s thoughts and feelings, simplify the lesson by replacing character thoughts with a discussion of why a character feels a particular way.

  • Guided Practice

    will finish reading Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. We will finish writing our recipe for Lilly’s personality by charting her actions, thoughts, and feelings on the Character Personality Chart. We will explain how her actions, thoughts, and feelings tell about her personality. (Direct Teaching and Guided Practice Example Chart is provided below.)

    TIP: Chart no more than 3 key actions/thoughts/feelings from the example chart provided during the Guided Practice.

  • Independent Practice

    will create a recipe for Mr. Slinger’s personality by writing several words about his actions, thoughts, and feelings. You will explain how his actions, thoughts, and feelings reveal his personality on the Character Personality Worksheet. (Student and Teacher versions of the Independent Practice are provided below.)

    TIP: You may need to scaffold the Independent Practice by providing word choices to describe Mr. Slinger’s personality.

Standards Alignment

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

Build Student Vocabulary considerate

Tier 2 Word: considerate
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story When Mr. Slinger was teaching, Lilly wanted to show everyone her purple plastic purse, but Mr. Slinger said, “‘Not now. Let’s be considerate of our classmates.’ Lilly had a hard time being considerate.”
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) Considerate means thinking about the feelings and needs of others. Mr. Slinger told Lilly to be considerate because he wanted her to think about the needs of her classmates, rather than look at her purse.
Students repeat the word Say the word considerate with me: considerate.
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts It was considerate of him to bring his sister warm soup when she was sick. It was considerate of her to help the old woman cross the street.
Students provide examples Can you think of a time when you were considerate? Start by saying, “I was considerate when ________________________________.”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? considerate
Additional Vocabulary Words forgive, uncooperative

Build Student Background Knowledge

After teaching the lesson, explain that Lilly's ideas for what she wants to be when she grows up are called "professions." We are already familiar with common professions like policemen, firefighters, teachers, lawyers, and doctors. Lilly shows us that there are many more professions to consider. Show students the last page of the book, and explain that a surgeon is a doctor that operates on the human body. An ambulance driver picks up people in an emergency and makes sure they get to a hospital in time to be helped. A diva is a female singer. A scuba diver dives into the deep sea to explore and count marine life. Extend the skill taught in the lesson by asking what kind of personality traits might match each of these professions. For example, someone who is adventurous might be a scuba diver. Someone who is patient might be a surgeon, and someone who is talented might be a diva.

Teacher and Student Materials Get All

User Comments

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Submitted by Christy P on 11/11/12
Thank you for your information it is very helpful. I don't know why I can't download the materials, but I'll check what is going on with my PDF anyway. Thanks a lot
Submitted by Elith on 10/21/12
We are book poor at our school. However, the worksheets are good, and I would like to see them come in template form. Love the SIte
Submitted by M. Parker on 10/16/12
This is a great resource!!!
Submitted by alexander251 on 9/3/12
I am trying to save the student materials to use on my Promethean Board (which is fairly new!) and am having trouble. Any help would be appreciated.
Submitted by Kay Mason on 8/16/12
Try saving as a PDF, the use your tools to take a picture so you can paste that picture into a flipchart page.
Submitted by Krista on 9/30/12
Hi Kay, Have you tried the 'Download Original' link at the top of the 'View and Print' window for each material? That is the easiest way to save the files.
Submitted by ReadWorks Team on 8/17/12

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