ACES Regional Curriculum Consortium ELA Unit Organizer
Grade/Subject
Grade 2 / ELA
Unit Title
Characters Face Challenges And So Do We
Overview of Unit
This unit teaches young readers to pay close attention to characters as they read. It
helps children recount important events and challenges that characters face. Readers
will analyze characters’ feelings throughout the twists and turns of the story. Children
will examine how character traits influence their response to different situations.
Reading increasingly longer and more complex texts will help students deepen their
ability to predict, infer, and synthesize. The performance task asks students to design a
presentation in which they become the main character, explaining how a major event
or challenge in the story impacted their feelings and caused them to have a change of
heart or a change of mind.
Pacing
3-4 weeks
Background Information For The Teacher
In addition to providing a context or rationale for the teaching of this specific unit unit, this section may also
include information such as: displaced concepts, changes from past practice, essential vocabulary for the
teacher, etc. Also include any potential teacher misconceptions here.
Rationale:
In grade one, students spend a majority of their time learning to decode text and identifying the story
elements. In second grade, students will build upon these skills as they learn to more closely analyze key ideas
and details from the text. As the texts become more complex so do the characters and events in the story.
This provides students the opportunity to delve deeper into how a character develops and changes. In this
unit, students examine the relationship between major events in the story and the effect it has on the
character. Standard 3 of the Common Core asks readers to analyze how “individuals, events and ideas
develop and interact over the course of a text.” (Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C., 2012, p. 81)
While most books will clearly state the character’s traits, your readers will now need to read carefully for
examples of when those traits are driving the character’s actions and when in fact the character begins to act
outside those traits. A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop. (Calkins, 2011, p. 55)
Tracking characters’ changing emotion is another way for readers to determine importance in their book.
(Calkins, 2011, p. 56)
After identifying and describing a character’s feelings, it is important for students to understand that feelings
change often as a result of a major event or challenge.
You want readers to see that whenever a character is expressing a strong emotion - or changing how he or she
feels – it is likely that something important is happening. (Calkins, 2011, p. 56)
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In this unit students will need to use the comprehension strategies of predicting, inferring and synthesizing to
determine character traits. Teachers and students should understand that authors reveal character traits by
providing clues in the text. Character traits are revealed through the actions and reactions of the character, by
what the character says and how those words are delivered as well as the character’s physical appearance,
where he or she lives and their interests.
Students need to know we don’t just read to learn about our characters – that in fact authors often write
about characters to help us learn about the world and even ourselves. (Calkins, 2011, p. 56)
This unit allows the teacher to guide the students to the realization that we are all affected by the events and
challenges in our lives. Reading literature involves learning from the characters in stories and looking to books
for lessons in courage, determination, and integrity. As students investigate language, delve into themes, and
analyze possible morals and meanings of stories, they’ll develop insight into the text, which is the goal of the
Common Core, and insight into themselves and the lives of others, which is one of the purposes for reading at
all. (Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C., 2012, p. 52)
Teachers and students should understand that authors reveal character traits by providing clues in the text.
Character traits are revealed through the actions and reactions of the character, by what the character says
and how those words are delivered as well as the character’s physical appearance, where he or she lives and
their interests.
Changes from the Past Practices:
Students need to go back over earlier parts of the text as well as the more recently read portions to produce
examples that support the second or third central idea that you put forward. (Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., &
Lehman, C., 2012, p. 82)
Readers are asked to “read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and
proficiently”(2010a, 10) The grade – specific iterations call more specifically for students to read what CCSS
refer to as grade level complex texts with independence. (Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C., 2012, p.
32)
Displaced Concepts:
It is important to note that students be provided with time to read independently (at least 45 minutes), selfselect high interest text that they can access, and time for discourse with a partner. Teachers must ensure the
texts students choose are of appropriate level, accessibility, and complexity to the individual student.
Essential Vocabulary for the Teacher:
Recounting is to report, describe and verify; retelling is simply restating and repeating.
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Works Cited:
Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the common core: accelerating
achievement. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Calkins, L. (2011). A curricular plan for the reading workshop, grade 2. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common core state standards for English language
arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
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Essential Questions (and Corresponding Big Ideas)
Essential Questions:
How are we shaped by the events in our lives?
How do actions influence relationships?
Why do feelings change?
Big Ideas:
Everyone faces challenges in their lives.
People react differently in different situations.
There are many different points-of-view.
Core Standards
Foundational
Skills (RF)
Reading
Literature (RL)
2.3
2.4
2.1
2.3
2.6
2.7
Reading
Information
(RI)
Writing (W)
Speaking and
Listening (SL)
Language (L)
2.5
2.1
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.1
2.2
2.6
ISTE Standards
(http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx)
(example: NETS.S.1.b)
ISTE 1
ISTE 2
ISTE 5
ISTE 6
K-U-D
KNOW
Facts, names, dates, places
information, vocabulary
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Students will know:
 Point of view
 Character traits
 Character feelings
 Major event and challenges
 Format of a Journal Entry
 Steps of creating a presentation
 Norms for collaborative conversation
 Comprehension strategies (predicting, making inferences,
drawing conclusions)
 Supporting details from the text
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 Dialogue
 Reader’s theater
UNDERSTAND
Students will understand that
Big ideas, generalizations,
 Characters’ background and experiences influence their points of
principles, ideas that transfer
view, actions and feelings
across situations
 Characters’ traits and feelings drive how they respond to major
events and challenges.
 Characters can teach us about our own feelings and world
 A character’s feelings change throughout a story often as a result
of a major event or challenge
 Characters respond to key events in a story
 Some events have more of a significance than others in a story
 A journal is used as a way to express feelings and recount events
 Creating a presentation is a process
 There are norms for collaborative conversations
 Through discussion and recounting the experiences of a character
a greater understanding of the text can be achieved
 Comprehension strategies help the reader understand character,
setting and plot
 Writers use details from the text to support an opinion
 The character traits and feelings are portrayed in how a character
speaks and acts
 A reader expression and intonation can support comprehension
of the text.
DO (start here)
 Analyze character traits and provide evidence from the text
Skills of the discipline, social
 Infer character feelings based on the character’s actions and
skills, production skills, processes
words
(usually verbs/verb phrases).
 Explain how and why a character’s feelings changed throughout
Hint: Use the standards!
the story
 Identify and describe major events and challenges in a story
 Evaluate the importance of events in a story
 Write journal responses in a character’s point of view
 Create and design a presentation about a character that recounts
a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events including
details to describe actions, thoughts and feelings
 Participate in collaborative conversations with partners to analyze
character traits and feelings
 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in print
or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters,
setting, or plot
 State opinions and support them with evidence
 Create and perform a Reader’s Theater based on a text.
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Common Student Misconceptions for this Unit
The students might have the misconception between a character’s physical attributes and a characters
feelings or traits. (External vs Internal)
Students may confuse a character’s feelings with traits. Explain that the two terms are similar, but feelings
can change from moment to moment, while character traits are developed over time.
Students might think that a character exhibits only one trait rather than several in one story.
Students will need to understand the importance of giving evidence to support their claim.
Students might not understand the relationship between how the events in a story effect a character’s
feelings.
Journal responses are not simply a retelling of the events but should include thoughts and feelings.
Journal responses should be written in the character’s first person point of view.
Unit Assessment/Performance Task
Include rubric/scoring guide.
Students describe how the character of Bud in Christopher Paul Curtis’ story Bud, Not Buddy
responds to a major event in his life of being placed in a foster home. (RL 2.3)
Students will create and design a presentation such as a podcast, dramatic performance in which
they become the main character explaining how a major event or challenge in the story impacted
their feelings and caused them to have a change of heart or a change of mind. (RL 2.3)
The presentation will include:
 background information about the character
 a description of the major event or challenge
 how they respond to the event
 their feelings
 be reflective of the character’s trait
Students will also include journal entries and visual representation.
Peers will be able to interview and ask questions of the character.
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DOK
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Suggested Texts
Title
Author
BRIEF Synopsis
Lexile/
F&P
Genre
Series/Early Chapter
Books
Poppleton
Mr. Putter and Tabby
Henry and Mudge
Fox
Cynthia Rylant
Cynthia Rylant
Cynthia Rylant
James Marshall
Meet Poppleton, the new pig in town, who
lives in a charming house and goes to the
library every Monday to read good books.
370L
A lonely, old man finds company with his cat,
Tabby. Together they have many adventures
with friends in their neighborhood.
440L
Henry, feeling lonely on a street without any
other children, finds companionship and love
in a big dog named Mudge.
420L
A sneaky fox and his friends get into many
troublesome situations.
210
J
J
J
J
Arthur
Pinky and Rex
Franklin
Mark Brown
James Howe
Paulette Bourgeois
Arthur’s trials and tribulations will strike a
chord with youngsters who surely share his
hopes and fears in the face of challenges such
as siblings, illness, and school, among others.
420L
Pinky and Rex are best friends. They have
everything the same, and that’s the way it
should be with best friends.
490L
A little turtle learns lessons through
experiences with his friends and family.
350L
K
L
K
Clifford
Frog and Toad
Norman Bridwell
Arnold Lobel
Emily Elizabeth’s big, red dog, Clifford, often
finds that his large size gets him into difficult
situations.
410L
Frog and Toad are best friends who help each
other through life’s ups and downs.
330L
J
K
George and Martha
James Marshall
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Two hippos entertain, intrigue and delight
reader of all ages. They teach us what it
means to be a true friend.
500L
L
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Picture Books
Big Al
Andrew Clements
Stand Tall Molly Lou
Mellon
Patty Lovell
Enemy Pie
Derek Munson
Big Al wants to make new friends, but his
appearance is scary. Little fish are afraid of
him. One day a fishing net captures a fish and
Big Al gets his chance to prove what a
wonderful friend he can be.
880L
Mary Lou is short and clumsy. But with
encouraging words from her grandmother,
Molly Lou confidently confronts the class bully
at her school.
560L
Enemy number one moved into Jeremy Ross’s
neighborhood. Luckily Dad had a way to get rid
of enemies – Enemy Pie. But part of the secret
recipe is spending an entire day playing with
the enemy.
330L
L
L
L
The Recess Queen
Alexis O’Neill
In this sassy playground romp the irrepressible
new kid dethrones the reigning recess bully by
doing the unthinkable- she invites her to be
her friend.
450L
The Ant Bully
John Nickle
Lucas wishes he could squash that big bully like
a bug. But Lucas is too little, and so he bullies
ants instead.
580L
When her class decides to do Peter Pan, Grace
wants to play Peter. With support of her
family, Grace learns she can be anything she
wants to be.
680L
A little boy must come to terms with being
teased and ostracized because he’d rather
read books, paint pictures, and tap dance than
participate in sports.
483L
When nine-year-old Gregory experiences
several upsets in his life, he responds by
creating a fantastic chalk garden on the
charred walls of a burned-out factory behind
his house.
270L
John Midas loves chocolate and eats it at any
hour of the day. But one day, after wandering
into a candy store and buying a piece of their
best chocolate, John finds out that there might
770L
Amazing Grace
Oliver Button is a
Sissy
Mary Hoffman
Tomie DePoala
K
J
J
Kevin Henkes books
Chapter Books
The Chalk Box Kid
The Chocolate Touch
Robert Clyde Bulla
Patrick Catling
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be such a thing as too much chocolate.
Lucy Series
Freckle Juice
Ilene Cooper
Judy Blume
Bobby Quinn is shy. In fact, he’s so shy, he has
trouble making friends. But that changes when
he gets a squirmy little puppy for his birthday.
Unlike Bobby, Lucy isn’t shy at all. And to his
surprise, she keeps dragging him into all sorts
of adventures – and friendships, too.
360L
Andrew wishes he had freckles like his
classmate Nicky. He mixes a concoction at
home and waits for something to happen.
370L
Supplemental Materials and Resources
Websites:
www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/readingliterature/literary_elements_devices/characterization.htm
Characterization Lesson and Activities: Literary Elements: Character
How and Why Characters Change
www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm (Reader’s Theater Scripts and Plays)
www.wordle.com (create a visual representation of character traits)
www.kidspirations.com (creating character maps)
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/how.html (Gallery walk)
www.blogger.com
http://guest.portaportal.com/podcasting (creating a podcast)
Resource Books:
Analyzing Character Traits by Laura Chandler
www.lauracandler.com/books/TPT/AnalyzingCharacterTraitsPreview.pdf
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 2 by Lucy Calkins
www.booksource.com (Lists of books about character)
Academic Vocabulary
Include content- and domain-specific vocabulary.
Traits
Recount
Point of view
Major events and challenges
Dynamic character
Static character
Reader’s Theater
Analyze
Infer
Evaluate
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Academic Vocabulary
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Interdisciplinary Connections
Social Studies – Introduce biographies as a genre. Read about an event in history and compare the point of
view of two different people that experienced the event.
Art – A variety of visual representations from their reading. (Creating scenery and props for Reader’s
Theater; masks and puppets)
Social Skills – Having students understand the feelings and traits of their peers. Role-playing.
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Key Learning Activities/Possible Lesson Focuses
In order to understand character’s wants and problems, students read the title and summary on back of the
book to guide their thinking about the character. As students read and gather more information about the
character, they will make predictions about what will happen to a character asking, “What would I do if I had
this problem? How would I try to work it out or get what I want?”
In order to demonstrate how characters respond to key events in a story, students create a two-column chart.
One column contains the characters’ wants and/or challenges, and the second column containing what the
character does to achieve a goal or overcome the challenge.
In order to use information gained from the illustrations and words in print to demonstrate understanding of
its characters, setting, or plot, students will create a post-it when there is a scene or detail that doesn’t fit with
what the reader is expecting. Students will reread the text to self-monitor for meaning.
In order to analyze character traits and provide evidence from the text, students will create a Character Frame
(graphic organizer, see Supplemental Resources for website) to list the personality trait, actions which support
that trait, and supporting details from the text which should include conversations by or about the character.
In order to explain how and why a character’s feelings changed throughout the story, complete a Character
Development Story Map to track a character’s feelings in the beginning, middle and end of the book. In
addition to the feeling, dialogue and actions from the text should be used to support each feeling.
In order to explain how and why a character’s feeling changed throughout the story, use post-it-notes to
create an emotional timeline of changes in characters’ feelings in order to explain how and why a character’s
feelings.
In order to state opinions and support them with details, partners read several books about the same
character and independently complete a written response identifying the character’s trait, with evidence from
the text. Students collaborate to share findings.
In order to participate in collaborative conversations with partners to analyze characters’ traits and feelings,
create anchor charts listing character feelings and traits.
In order to analyze character traits and provide evidence from the text, partner read a series of books to
identify character traits and cite evidence from the text. Design Character Trait Poster displaying the
character traits of a significant character. To incorporate technology, Wordle can be utilized to create a visual
representation of the character traits.
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In order to evaluate the importance of events from a story, as a group read a compiled list of events from read
aloud, and arrange the events from least important to most important.
In order to help students identify and describe major events in a story, identify important events from
independent books on post-its and evaluate which is the most important event affecting the character.
In order to infer character’s feelings based on actions or words, recount an elaborate event or short sequence
of events based on partner books being read. Students will act out the event, and classmates will infer the
emotion.
In order to state an opinion and support it with evidence, create a written response based on the prompt,
“Would you want to be your character’s friend? What did they do or say in the story that would make you feel
that way?” Discuss with reading partners.
In order to analyze character traits or feelings, conduct a carousel walk listing alternatives to commonly used
feeling words or character traits.
In order to understand characters’ points of view, student will complete a matching activity containing
characters and quotes or actions portraying their point of view.
In order to understand characters’ point of view, participate in a Gallery Walk recording dialogue or thoughts
based on a character’s point of view.
In order to understand point of view, draw conclusions based on text in order to create journal entries based
on a character’s point of view.
In order to understand how a character’s actions and dialogue can support comprehension of the text, groups
of students will create and perform an original Reader’s Theater.
Suggested Formative Assessment Practices/Processes
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Journal entries record students’ detailed thoughts about their reading and allow them to push beyond simple
retell. Students will write as if they were the character in the story and reflect on events and feelings they
experience.
Reading conferences and anecdotal records – The teacher will meet with students to discuss the story and
assess their ability to demonstrate understanding of key events and details. Questions will be related to major
events and challenges, character traits, feelings and inferences that the students make about the character.
Graphic organizers serve to support student understanding of important elements of a text. In this unit,
students can create a character frame, story map or T-chart.
Exit tickets are used at the end of a lesson to highlight key information learned from the text. Students may
answer questions related to the story using details from the text. They might also be asked to describe
character traits, actions and major events in the story.
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