ELA.3.R.1.1

In this close reading lesson, students will read Tops & Bottoms, adapted by Janet Stevens, focusing on the lessons that the characters learn as a result of their actions throughout the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is to be used with chapter 1 of Phineas L. MacGuire Gets Slimed by Frances O'Roark Dowell. It includes comprehension questions, a writing prompt, and a rubric. Students will answer comprehension questions and write a response based on a prompt that asks the students for their opinion and requires students to support their opinion with evidence from the chapter.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading lesson, students will determine the meaning of vocabulary words and explain the development of the main character, Fern, using Chapter 1 of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Students will respond to the text by writing an opinion paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading of Patricia Polacco's story The Junkyard Wonders, students will identify and analyze character development to help determine the theme, or underlying message, the author wants readers to understand.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will delve into the text Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg. They will determine the character’s development based upon the character's traits, actions, and language, especially examining character change over the course of the text. Students will also write a narrative ending to the story based on the character’s development.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will listen to the teacher read aloud Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Mouse." They will define vocabulary words and discuss the causes and effects of events in the story. These lessons will culuminte with students writing an expository text about how the lion changes throughout the story by providing details and other required components.

Type: Lesson Plan

The following lesson centers around the book 14 Cows for America. This story is a recount of the events on September 11 told through the eyes of a young man in his village in Kenya. Students will think deeply about the main character and his character traits in the story. A series of discussion questions are provided along with an expository writing prompt.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read and reread a classic Chinese folktale, The Ballad of Mulan. They will ask and answer text-dependent questions and will recount the events in the story using a story map. Students will determine the theme of the story and analyze Mulan's character development through her actions, thoughts, and feelings along with their contribution to the sequence of events and, ultimately, the theme of the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on identifying plot elements of Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola in order to explain how the character develops. Using a plot diagram and guiding questions, students will identify the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution in the book. Students will then use the plot information gathered to summarize the text and explain how the character develops.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will determine the traits, feelings, and motivations of a character based on a read aloud, Giraffes Can't Dance, written by Gildes Andreae. Students will use the character's traits, feelings, and motivations to discuss the character’s development throughout the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

Help 3D Animator Angie explain and use metaphors to describe how the character, Reign the Cat, develops throughout the story "Adventures with Reign the Cat" in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to describe characters’ feelings, traits, and motivations using excerpts from Charlotte's Web. In this interactive tutorial, you will also learn how to identify and explain how characters’ actions contribute to the events in a story.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will describe a character by using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between characters and will record their findings on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity