August House
The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog
Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Ingredients of a Relationship Recipe
An eye-catching hook makes a smart analogy between ingredients for a food recipe and ingredients for quality relationships. Scholars discuss and list qualities they feel contribute to positive interactions. Pupils create a recipe card...
ReadWriteThink
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
Inspire kindness in and out of school with a lesson that challenges scholars to perform 100 acts of kindness during the time between Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Valentine's day. Leading up to a celebration of friendship, learners...
Curated OER
Patriots, Traitors, and Spies
Fifth graders determine how Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold influenced the American Revolution. In this American Revolution lesson, 5th graders research primary and secondary sources to find three character traits of Benedict Arnold and...
Curated OER
Classroom Fun with Flat Stanley
Complete a series of activities based on the Flat Stanley books in this literature study instructional activity. Introduce the book with a discussion of supernatural qualities, then learnerscan create character webs, write news articles,...
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: Biopoem
Here’s a catchy way to study characterization. Readers of The Catcher in the Rye select a character from Salinger’s classic tale to use as the subject of a biopoem. A teacher sample is provided.
Curated OER
Art Self-Assessment
Reflection is a wonderful way to understand yourself as a learner or as an artist. Kids write a one-paragraph analysis of their own self-portrait. They focus on style, character traits, and self characterization.
Curated OER
Goldilocks Revisited
Second graders investigate the story of "The Three Bears" while focusing on the character of Goldilocks. They answer key questions that are focused upon the development of positive feelings and reactions. Students discuss the possible...
Curated OER
Red Hot Resume!!
Sixth graders identify personal strengths and the importance of highlighting their talents when writing a resume. They write a reflection narrative on "Cool Stuff I Can Do." They generate the information for the narrative from class...
Curated OER
Writing Catchy Introductions
In this introductory paragraph learning exercise, students learn techniques for writing an attention-catching introductory paragraph. Students then read several introductory paragraphs and determine which strategies were used.
Curated OER
Playing by the Rules
Students discuss honesty and the common good. In this character education lesson, students observe a role play demonstrating inappropriate classroom behaviors. Students evaluate consequences of actions and draw a t-chart comparing...
Curated OER
Treatments for Characters' Problems
Learners research treatments for problems associated with specific characters. For this online research lesson, students use kid-friendly search engines to find information that will help a character from Charlie and the Chocolate...
Curated OER
Creating Dramatic Monologues from The Grapes of Wrath
The characters in The Grapes of Wrath come to life through an activity that asks groups to craft a dramatic monologue for a character in John Steinbeck's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Writers are...
Curated OER
Voice Trait: Who Is Talking?
Learners recognize the difficulty of knowing who wrote a letter from the envelope. For this writing "voice" lesson, students understand the meaning of voice in writing and detect who the writers are in a worksheet.
Curated OER
During Reading Strategy for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations
Readers create a literary scrapbook for one of the characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and fill it with mementoes, journal entries, letters, etc. A great way to get kids to think about characterization.
Novelinks
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Problematic Situations
When is it okay to go against authority and what can happen if you do? This is the leading question in this activity to accompany your classroom reading of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. After reading...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Keep Finding the Positive
Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Are You Balanced?
Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...
Talking with Trees
What is Responsibility?
Encourage responsible behavior with a activity that challenges scholars to read four scenarios, identify the level of responsibility, and brainstorm consequences of the actions taken.
Curated OER
What Will I Be When I Get Big
Students research a famous person, consider what character values make this person a good role model and write a personal vision statement that maps out how to build similar character traits in their own lives.
Curated OER
Descriptive Paper - And Then There Were None
Students explore And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. In this characterization lesson, students locate passages that contain character descriptions and settings. Students write a descriptive essay on the characters in And...
Curated OER
People to Look Up To
Learners research an assigned person who exemplifies one or more of the following character traits: respect for others, empathy, perseverance, integrity, composure under pressure or responsibility. They assess how a person's choices and...
Curated OER
Characterization Lessons for Middle School Students
Students learn characterization by writing about a special person in their life.
Curated OER
Washington's Newburgh Address
Young scholars write a persuasive essay that compares George Washington to someone overcoming an obstacle. In this American History lesson, students study Washington's Newburgh Address and the character traits of the president. They...