Lesson 8: Character Traits Day 3 Caleb & Kate Overview Class: There are 23 second-grade students in this classroom.

Two students are on IEPs, though neither student is on an academic IEP. Both students participate fully in all classroom activities. One of these students has a full time, one-on-one aide. There are also 3 ELL students in the class. Subject: Language Arts/Read Aloud/Writing Brief Summary: This lesson continues our examination of character traits and students continue to practice identifying character traits from William Steigs books. Students have familiarity with character trait from previous units. Students will also write an opinion letter about one of the William Steig books and/or characters they have read. This lesson ties in with the writing unit on opinion letter writing. Students will be very familiar with writing opinion letters by the time this lesson is taught. Time: 90 minutes (and additional writing time as needed, at least 1 additional 45 minute writing block) Understandings Students will understand that Students will understand that character traits describe a characters personality. We identify character traits by looking at what a character says and does. Good readers need to determine character traits in order to better understand the character and the story. Students will also understand that writers must support their opinions with evidence from the text when writing opinion letters. Standards Reading Standards for Literature Grade 2: 1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, settings, or plot. Speaking and Listening Standards for Grade 2: 2. Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. Writing Standards for Grade 2: 8. Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. Objectives SWBAT: Contribute to the class character trait poster Participate in a full class discussion of the story elements

Respond non-verbally to show agreement or disagreement with traits that describe a character Write an opinion letter about one of the books and/or characters we have read during our author study, and support their opinion with at least 2 pieces of evidence from the text.

Materials needed. Caleb & Kate by William Steig Pre-made vocabulary chart for Caleb & Kate ELMO What are Character Traits mini poster Character Traits Anchor Chart Colored Markers Character Trait list Opinion Letter paper (30+) Opinion Letter checklist Writing anchor charts (We use Capitals in our Writing, Editing Checklist, Letter Format) Instructional Approach. 1. Introduction: a. Review what character traits are and how we identify them. b. Today we will be reading our last William Steig book called Calebe & Kate. Make predictions about who Caleb and Kate are based on the cover. What is their relationship? What do we think the book is about? 2. Vocabulary Scaffolding: a. As weve seen in his other books, William Steig uses lots of strong words in his stories. Ive listed some of the vocabulary words that are in our next book, Caleb & Kate. We will be referring to this chart as we read to help us understand the story. b. Read the words to the students. They can give a thumbs-up when they hear the word in the reading and we will stop to discuss the definitions when we get to them in the text. 3. Interactive Read Aloud: a. While reading, pause to ask questions of the students to check for comprehension. b. Pause at vocabulary words to clarify meaning and link back to the vocabulary anchor chart. 4. Discuss Story Elements: a. As a class, identify the characters, setting, problem, and solution in the story. 5. Add to the character traits poster

a. Ask students what character traits they would use to describe Caleb and Kate. Be sure to ask the students why they think this; what evidence in the story supports this? See if students agree or disagree. Allow students to further discuss is disagreements arise b. If needed, show students the list of character traits, and read through some of them to see what words we could use to describe Caleb or Kate. 6. Read Aloud Conclusion: a. Have students summarize what we learned today. Prompt with questions such as: What are character traits? How do we identify character traits? Why is it important for readers to understand character traits? 7. Writing Response (possibly beginning at a later point in the day and continuing through several writing sessions): a. Tell the students that they will be writing an opinion letter based on one of the characters in one of the William Steig books they have read. They well be writing to a first grade class trying to convince them to read one of the books. b. In their letter, they should have an opinion about one of the characters. What character trait does this character exhibit? What in the text supports this opinion? c. Have the students sit at tables based on the book they are writing about. Allow 3-4 minutes of brainstorming/discussion at the tables. d. Students will be very familiar with writing opinion letters because of their Writing curriculum (they will be in the middle of their opinion letter writing unit). i. They will use the same Opinion Letter checklist they us during Writing to guide their letter organization. ii. Writing anchor charts will be displayed in familiar places throughout the room. iii. They will use the Opinion Letter rubric to self-evaluate their own writing. iv. Students will write a rough draft, edit, and write a published piece which will be given to a first grade class e. Teacher should meet with students to check in and assist where needed. Sponge Students add illustrations to their letters to make them more visually appealing, like in William Steig books. If they finish illustrating, they may have Choice Reading with some of the other William Steig books from the book display that we did not read. Assessment Students will be informal assessed using whole class discussion questions during the lesson. Students opinion letters are collected assessed for clarity and quality of their answer.