Character Traits in the Elementary Classroom

This beautiful story showcases the juxtaposition of character traits in a great way among the two daughters. The idea of a traditional tale makes it great to teach a wide variety of topics. I love the cultural aspect and how well it fits. It has many great examples and is a great starting point for character traits.

This a heart warming story that showcases a great message for any age. Its characters are authentic and presented with a problem that takes some creativity to solve and keep the town together. Awesome for studying characters and analyzing their thoughts, words, and actions.

This classic tale is great to analyze through the lens of character traits. Either Camilla or her family or even the doctors each of their perspectives and words can easily show how they feel about the stripes. This book is always a class favorite and looking at the how and why behind the characters is a an easy fit.

This book is truly outstanding. This great historical tale of making a quilt that leads to freedom would be great in many parts of the curriculum. The imagery is fantastic, but the characters are easily to relate to and resonate with the readers. There are so many examples and discussions of character’s actions that make this a great choice every year.

Golem is another classic tale rooted in Jewish history. The clay figure comes to life to help protect and then is called back after his mission is over. This book brings up really great discussion and questions for students but helps study characters because you see both positive and negative in people. This is another great story to analyze.

All of the above stories are in QR Listening Center Pack you can see more about by clicking on the picture. They are great stories to illustrate this message and the rigorous self checking questions take it a step further.

I also love to make a great anchor chart for character traits and make sure to differentiate between physical and behavioral traits.

We always use “prove it” words to show the examples that were illustrated in the story.

I love to have a list of example traits that students glue in their notebooks and can refer back to. We do this often during the year since this topic can be brought up with nearly every story. Almost always we refer to positive traits and I think it is worth noting that negative traits do have their place to in helping analyze behavior. That is one of the reasons I like to include traditional tales because they showcase this better than some other books.

Character Traits – QR Listening Center and Work Mats

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There is also something to be said about the rich vocabulary that comes with discussing character traits. Usually the words seem large at first and breaking them down and talking about them is crucial for students. These always show up on standardized tests and half the battle is understanding and breaking down those words.