Focus Lesson Planning Sheet
Focus Lesson Inferring About Characters Part 1
(Determining character traits)
Topic
Materials
Connection
Explicit
Instruction
Babushka’s Doll by Patricia Polacco
Or some other book with easily identifiable character traits (as well
as some character change for the follow up lesson)
Short texts or picture books for students to use for practice
We have been talking about the reading strategy of inferring where
readers combine what they know from their schema (background
knowledge and experience) with clues from the text to come up
with some ideas they think are probably true (refer to “What is
inferring” anchor chart if possible). Today we are going to talk
about one of the most important kinds of inferring that readers do:
about the characters in a story.
When authors write a book, they want to make their characters
seem like real people. In real life, when you meet someone new, that
person doesn’t walk over to you and say “Hi, I’m (name). I am a
brave person. (or some other trait). Instead, in real life, as you get
to know a new person, you start understanding what kind of person
he or she is, what the personality of that person is like. Another
way we can say this is what “traits” this person shows in his/her
personality. Character traits are words to describe a person’s or
character’s personality. When authors write about a character
they introduce characters to you like real life. An author rarely
writes “(name) is brave (or some other trait),” and tells you a
character’s traits so directly. Instead, the author writes the story
so that the reader can figure out that the character is brave (or
other trait). The author gives a reader clues and the reader has to
infer the character’s personality and traits. Readers infer to do
this. Just like real life when we get to know a person through their
actions, words and thoughts, authors tell us what their characters
do and say and think and even what they look like and what other
characters might say or think about them. These are all the clues
we use to infer the character’s traits.
Watch me think about a character in this book. Read the first few
pages of book (Babushka’s Doll or other). Stop and think aloud
about the clues given about Natasha or other main character.
Focus on character’s actions, words, thoughts, etc. and what other
characters say and think about that main character. Record your
thoughts (and especially the evidence from the text) on a chart
Guided
Practice
Send Off [for
Independent
Practice]
Group Share
based on the Character Recording Sheet (attached) or some other
graphic organizer. Finally name the trait you are focusing on. For
example, I think Natasha is a selfish person. I think this
because…… review clues recorded on chart which helped lead to this
inference.
Let’s try the next page together. Read another page (one with
further clues about a character’s traits). Turn and talk to a
partner about any clues you heard on this page about what the
character does, says or thinks or what another character says, that
helps you know that this character shows the trait of selfishness
(or other).
Record students’ thoughts on chart.
** Note: in Babushka’s Doll Natasha, the main character, changes in
the story. Character change and development is the next lesson.
If you do not read the entire book at this lesson, but instead
inform the students that you will get back to it in the future, you
can then use the same book for the follow up lesson. The same is
possible for any other text you are using in which a character’s
traits are identifiable at the beginning and then have undergone a
change by the end of the story.
From now on when you are reading pay attention to what the author
tells you. Notice what the character does, says and thinks, and what
other characters say and think. Think about these clues from the
text so that you can infer a character’s traits.
You can begin having students record their evidence about
character traits on a recording sheet like the one modeled in this
lesson if you so choose or you can give them another day of practice
simply determining character traits and hold off on the follow up
lesson (character change and development) for one or more days.
Share with a partner what you found out about one of your main
characters. Discuss his or her character traits and the clues from
the text (what the character did, said and thought, or what other
characters said or thought). If the students used the graphic
organizer to record their thoughts they could share that.
Inferring About Character Traits
Name ____________________________
Date _____________________________
Title _____________________________
Author ___________________________
Character _________________________________
Trait (s) __________________________________
What the character does.
What the character says or
thinks.
What other characters say and
think about the character.