Character Trait Vocabulary Lesson

My students struggle with vocabulary!  Research has shown that my students are not alone. By the end of second grade, the average student has acquired approximately 6,000 root-word meanings, but the lowest 25% have acquired only 4,000! (Biemiller, 2006).

I noticed a big problem with my own students (4th graders) when they struggled to understand the word brave used as a character trait!   We ask them to be able to:

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions.  CCSS.RL.4.3

How can they possibly do this if they don't have the basic vocabulary to define character traits?  Here is one of the lessons we used to help develop their vocabulary.

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We chose some common character traits that were connected to characters we had been reading about in class.  We then searched for pictures that would match those words. You can just type the word in Google and then choose an image search.

We printed out the pictures we found, and wrote the words and definitions on index cards.  We passed the pictures and words out to the students and asked them to find their match.

Once the students found their match, we asked them to present the word, the definition, and the picture to the class to see if everyone agreed. 

 Most of the students made a successful match, and for the ones who didn't we were able to have a productive discussion about why their choice was not quite the best one.

We put the matching cards on an anchor chart for the students to refer to.  

We used this activity as a whole group, but you could easily modify it to use in a small group, or have students work in partners to match up all of the words and pictures.

If you use this activity, I would love to hear how it goes!

Before you leave, be sure to head over to enter our current giveaway!

Stop, Swap and Roll Product Swap

I am so excited to be taking part in another product swap with Melissa at Jungle Learners!  Before I get started, I must apologize for getting this post up late.  My 20 year old son has epilepsy and suffered a grand mal seizure yesterday afternoon.  As a result of the seizure, he broke a vertebrae in his back.  We were at the ER from 4:30 PM yesterday until 6:30 AM this morning. So.. my Rafflecoptor for the prize won't work until tonight, but this product I am trying is so worth it!  Please stop by again to enter!

I swapped items with Stephanie from The Learning Chambers.

She has so many amazing things in her store, it was really hard to choose just one!  I finally decided to try out her Reading Response Flap Journal.
I used them with my reading groups and they were a big hit! My students LOVE flap books, and this was no exception.

I don't know about your class, but I have kiddos who are working on a wide variety of reading levels.  One thing that I absolutely love about this packet is that Stephanie has included two different versions, so you can differentiate to accommodate different levels!  This product is also versatile for if you have to change grade levels!

This is the version I used with my grade level and above students.

For my below grade level students, I used the version below.

The best part about the differentiation is that the covers are exactly the same, so my students don't know that other students have different versions!

I initially introduced the students to the booklets during our reading club time.  Then, I gave students new books to use with their independent reading.  I plan on using them throughout the year.  Being able to use a product all year round and with any book is a big bonus for me when I purchase items from TpT. 

Great news for you!  As part of the swap, Stephanie has this item on sale!  You also have the opportunity to win this product as well by entering the Rafflecoptor below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Don't forget to visit her blog to see the item from my store she picked and enter to win it!



Check out our other swaps as well!