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KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT


PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAM
LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate:

Megan Valley

Date: 11/11/15

Cooperating Teacher: Jessica Polak

Coop. Initials

Group Size:

Allotted Time 50 minutes

Grade Level 1st

Writing: Character Traits

Section

21

Subject or Topic:

934

STANDARD:
1.5.1.A: Identify and write about one specific topic.
1.5.1.D: Write using adjectives, precise nouns, and action verbs.
1.5.1.F: Use grade appropriate conventions of language when writing and editing.
Spell common, frequently used words correctly.
Use capital letters correctly.
Punctuate correctly.
Begin to use correct grammar and sentence formation.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
A. The first grade students will be able to identify traits of characters in a story
by writing descriptive sentences to show their comprehension.
II. Instructional Materials
A. Brainpop video
https://jr.brainpop.com/readingandwriting/storyelements/character/
B. Definition cards
C. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
D. Character trait chart worksheets
E. Character trait list
F. White construction paper with a face hole cut in the middle
G. Markers
H. Scissors
I. Checklist
J. Rubric

III. Subject Matter/Content


A. Prerequisite Skills
1. Identifying characters in a story
B. Vocabulary
1. Character: people, animals or things in the story
2. Character traits: what someone or something is like and how they
look or act
C. Big Idea
1. Each characters has different traits that make them unique in the
story.
D. New Content
1. Characters can change throughout a story and have multiple traits
representing who they are as a whole.
IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
1. Have the students come to the carpet in the front and play the
brainpop video starting at 1:30.
https://jr.brainpop.com/readingandwriting/storyelements/character/
2. After playing the video remind students about their previous lessons
on characters and ask if someone could tell the class what a character
is. Put the definition on the bored.
3. Then ask if they remember from the video what a character trait is.
a. Big bad wolf- big teeth, big ears, eats people, scary, sneaky
4. Tell them that in every story each character has different traits that
make them unique. Read the definition of character traits and put it
on the board for reference.
5. Bring up a blank smartboard page and ask the class if they can think
of some character traits to list on the board. (Printed list attached for
reference)
6. Tell them that today we will be identifying character traits in the
story Chrysanthemum. Call the students by table name to go back to
the carpet for the story.
B. Development
1. Read Chrysanthemum and stop throughout to ask students what traits
they are noticing for each character. Examples below.
a. Chrysanthemum: happy, cheerful, sweet, sensitive, sad,
embarrassed
b. Her parents: encouraging, loving, supportive, caring
c. Victoria, Jo, Rita: mean, rude, unkind, jealous, bullies
d. Mrs. Twinkle: wonderful, singer, teacher, kind
2. After completing the story refresh the students on what a character
trait is and ask what examples we found in the story. Talk about how

3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

8.

9.

characters traits can change throughout a story. For example, a


character could be sad in the beginning but then they get a new
puppy and they are happy in the end. Ask them which characters
traits changed in the story and what they changed from.
Show the students the character traits chart and briefly explain how
they will be filling it out.
Have the students go back to their seats and get out a pencil. Hand
out the character trait sheets and pull it up on the overhead to go over
it more in depth. Read the directions and each characters name in
order of the paper.
Have the students follow along by writing their responses as you
read each characters name.
After they finish writing the character traits, go over it as a class and
write their answers on the smartboard.
Explain how we can use this character trait graphic organizer to help
us with our next activity. Tell them how we will be writing a prompt
in our journals about our favorite character and the traits they have in
the story. Go over the format of the prompt and what needs to be
included.
a. My favorite character is ________. He is ________ in the story
because _____________________. He is also ________
because______________________. I really like (favorite
character).
i. A partially completed prompt will be provided for
students who struggle with writing. (see attached)
b. Tell them they will also be graded on writing complete
sentences, leaving sufficient spacing between words, using
capital letters when starting a sentence and for names, and
correct punctuation at the end of a sentence.
Allow the students time to write independently, reminding them to
use their character traits chart for reference. As they finish, have
them raise their hands to be corrected by the teacher. They can then
draw a picture in the space provided at the top to go with their
writing piece.
When the students finish their writing they will hand in their journal
entries for formal assessment and get a piece of white construction
paper.

C. Closure
1. After the students all have their piece of construction paper, tell them
that they will be using the character traits we came up with as a class
in the beginning of the lesson to describe themselves on their piece
of construction paper. They will also get a print out of a list of
character traits to look at as well. There will be a hole cut in the
middle that their face will go in so and when they do that their
character traits will be all around their face.

2. Allow the students 5-10 minutes to write some traits around the cut
out hole then clean up and have them put their papers in their pink
folders.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
1. The prompt will have a version made for struggling writers that has
sentence starters. The students will just have to fill in the blanks
rather than writing complete sentences on their own.
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative:
a. First grade students will be assessed on their comprehension of
character traits through a checklist. (See attached)
b. They will also be assessed on their character trait journal
prompt through a rubric with specific criterion for their writing.
(See attached)
2. Summative: none at this time

V. Reflective Response
A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives (after lesson is
taught)
15/19 students scored 8/8 or 100% on their character trait chart. 1/19 scored
7/8 or 88% and 3/19 scored 6/8 or 75%. After analyzing the errors of the 4
children who did not score with 100% accuracy, I found that two of them
didnt fill any traits into the last column and the other two wrote a response
but it wasnt a correct trait. For example, they wrote a characters name
instead of a trait. The two kids who didnt fill in a column probably scored
that way because they are always talking or not listening to directions. The
other two scores below 100% accuracy probably happened because they
werent listening when I said the characters name isnt a trait. I dont think
anything would need to be retaught in my lesson but maybe take more time
doing the character chart and making sure the students have the correct
answers so they have something accurate to refer to when writing their
prompt.
On the writing prompt: 3/19 students scored a 20/20 or 100%, 1/19 scored
19/20 or 95%, 5/19 scored an 18/20 or 90%, 2/19 scored a 17/20 or 85%, 2/19
scored a 16/20 or 80%, 2/19 scored a 15/20 or a 75%, 1/19 scored a 14/20 or
70% and 3/19 scored a 12/20 or 60%. After looking at the various scores of
the students, I found that the majority of the errors were in capitals, spacing
and punctuation. Granted, there were some mess-ups with not naming two

character traits for a few of their prompts but it wasnt the type of prompt they
were used to. Usually the students are given an open prompt where they dont
have to refer back to a story and include details from it in their writing. They
are used to writing things like, If I were a super hero I would and I love
my mom because, and giving 3 detailed sentences. With that being said I
wasnt too shocked by their responses, I was actually impressed with what
some of them wrote. If I had more time I would do a mini lesson to go over
the basics of writing the day before doing this lesson. I would also want to
review what a character trait is by doing a quick activity with naming
character traits of famous movie characters. For example, minions are silly,
funny, happy, loyal, hard-working.
Remediation Plan: When teaching my lesson everything went really well and
the kids seemed to understand what a character trait was because they were all
volunteering to answer. But when it came to writing their prompts some of
them seemed to get a little confused on how to put a trait into a sentence or
simply what a trait is. I would keep the majority of my lesson the same but
give them more practice by reviewing what a character trait is with an activity
stated above. I would also do a couple samples on the board of how to write
sentences describing characters using traits.

B. Personal Reflection
1. Did I give myself and the students enough time to cover what needed
to be covered? If not, what could be changed to do so next time?
I thought I gave sufficient time for the kids to write because for any
other prompt they do, Mrs. Polak gives them the same time I did.
But since this was a prompt that required the kids to go back to the
story and provide evidence for their sentence, it took them longer
because a lot of them needed assistance. The lesson got stretched out
over a three day period because of the writing portion and I still
didnt get to do my closing activity. The second day we had 10
minutes left after math so I had them work on their writing. Then the
third day some students had to finish up their writing and I did the
closing activity with them in the 15 minutes we had at the end of the
day. So it ended up working out fine, just not how I planned. Next
time I would plan for it to be two days but give more time for the
lesson both days.
2. What part of the lesson could use improvement?
I think the timing portion needs most improvement like I said
previously. This primarily is because the students are still struggling
with writing. I gave about 7 students who struggle most a sentence
starter prompt to help them complete it faster since they have trouble

sounding out words to make sentences. Next time I would give them
all the sentence starter, then if kids finish it early then they can
rewrite the whole prompt on journal paper as a good copy without
the sentence starters.
3. Were the students engaged and involved in the lesson? How could I
make the lesson more engaging and fun for the students?
The students love videos, so the brainpop video was a hit. They also
really liked the story of Chrysanthemum and were volunteering to
answer questions for the character chart. I would say the closing
activity making their own character traits was everyones favorite
thing about my lesson, including myself. The kids really enjoyed
picking traits from the sheet that they felt matched themselves and I
enjoyed walking around helping them discover new words.

VI. Resources
A. Adventures of Room 129. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2015, from
http://adventuresofroom129.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-0524T18:14:00-07:00&max-results=7
B. Character. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2015, from
https://jr.brainpop.com/readingandwriting/storyelements/character/
C. Henkes, K. (1991). Chrysanthemum. New York: Greenwillow Books.
D. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/images/blogs/81/6a00e5
4faaf86b88330148c85f67229

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