Character Traits and Evidence

For the past month, my 5th graders have been working on character.  My teaching partner and I wanted to take character to a higher level, rather than just explaining the main character. 

I'll outline what we did for the unit:

 

1. Define what a character is- we used the terms "antagonist" and "protagonist".  To help kids remember, we said that "antagonist" starts with ants... and ants are bad to have in the house!
2. We gave students a "Character Traits" sheet.  We read a story together (you can use any story) and started using the traits to describe the characters.   We created an anchor chart to display.
3. The next day, we re-read the same story.  During our reading, we referred back to our anchor chart to see if we still agreed with each trait.  When we finished reading, we looked at each trait and started to eliminate the traits that were only shown in one section of the book (I wanted the kids to use traits that were more long-lasting).
4. I did a mini-lesson on how an author develops a character.  We used the terms "round" and "flat" character. 
5. Then, we looked at how character traits can be positive, negative, or neutral.  I gave the kids a "Character Traits Sorting Cards Game" (thanks, Laura Candler!).  I put the students into groups- they had to have a discussion about each word to decide if the trait is positive, negative, or neutral.  This went really well, as kids were starting to realize that a trait can be seen either way, all depending on the context of the story.  This took a couple days.
6. We learned that an author uses 3 ways to leave "clues" for the reader to figure out the traits of a character- action clues, verbal clues, and other clues (thanks, Laura Candler!).   Together, we read a short story and started to look for ways that the author left clues- and labeled them action, verbal, or other.  The kids catch on pretty quickly about this.  Additionally, it makes kids start to learn how to gather evidence.  
7. From here, I introduced the graphic organizer that we started to use with our small group books.  We use the graphic organizer ongoing throughout the remainder of the year.  For my higher ability groups, I have them use this to document character change throughout a text.   Additionally, they start to look at how setting impacts a character and his/her change.
8. When I teach this unit, I teach it in September.  To add some creativity to the character traits, the kids make a Halloween character (using their real picture as the face).  Then, they write a short paragraph describing their character using 3 traits and evidence.  They have fun creating the Halloween character using higher-level traits and made up evidence.
9. Then, I introduce the kids to providing evidence using "Evidence-Based Terms".  I found this idea online and love it.  We practiced with a short book.  We wrote out traits first.  Then, we went back through and used the "evidence-based terms" to add our evidence to the trait itself.  This is nice because it takes everyday, common words and shows kids how to use them to go further with their ideas by providing evidence, much like a detective does.
10. Now, we are starting to use the traits and evidence in whole and small group.  I think this is setting the stage for our next unit, "inferring".