English · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Identifying Character Traits

Active learning works for identifying character traits because young learners build emotional vocabulary and empathy through movement and discussion rather than abstract questioning. When children physically act out emotions or discuss clues in pairs, they connect abstract concepts like 'sad' or 'excited' to concrete actions and illustrations, which strengthens comprehension and retention.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: English - Reading (Comprehension)
• KS1: English - Writing (Composition)

• 15–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 20 min · Pairs

Role Play: Emotion Statues

The teacher reads a sentence from a story (e.g., 'The bear lost his hat'). Students must freeze in a pose that shows how the character feels. Partners then 'interview' the statue to ask why they feel that way.

Analyze how a character's actions reveal their personality.

Facilitation Tip

For Emotion Statues, model how to freeze in a pose that matches an emotion before asking students to do the same.

What to look for

Provide students with a picture of a character from a familiar story. Ask them to write two adjectives describing the character and one sentence explaining why they chose those words, referencing the illustration or a specific action.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Character Clue Hunters

Pairs look at a picture in a book and find three clues that tell them how the character is feeling (e.g., a frown, a tear, or a clenched fist). They share their clues with the class to build a 'feeling map'.

Compare the feelings of different characters in a story.

Facilitation Tip

During Character Clue Hunters, circulate and prompt pairs with questions like 'What did the character do that makes you think they are feeling shy?'

What to look for

Read a short passage featuring two characters with contrasting personalities. Ask: 'How do we know that Character A is feeling happy and Character B is feeling sad? What words or pictures tell us this?' Encourage students to point to specific evidence in the text or illustrations.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Inquiry Circle
• 30 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Hero's Suitcase

Groups are given a character and must decide on three items that character would pack in a suitcase based on their personality. They must justify their choices using evidence from the story.

Explain how illustrations contribute to understanding a character.

Facilitation Tip

For The Hero's Suitcase, model how to place an object in the suitcase and explain the connection to the character's personality.

What to look for

During story reading, pause at a key moment. Ask students to give a thumbs up if they think a character is feeling excited, thumbs down if they think the character is feeling scared. Then ask a few students to explain their choice by referencing the character's actions or facial expression in the illustration.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should avoid labeling characters as simply 'good' or 'bad' based on single emotions. Instead, guide students to see emotions as temporary states that all characters experience. Research shows that young learners benefit from visual tools like thought bubbles to separate what characters say from what they might be thinking, which builds inference skills. Always connect emotions to specific actions or words in the text or illustrations to avoid vague descriptions.

Successful learning looks like children using evidence from both the text and illustrations to describe a character's feelings with specific adjectives. They should confidently link actions such as 'stomping' to emotions like 'angry' and explain their reasoning to peers.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role Play: Emotion Statues, watch for children labeling a character as 'bad' because they act angrily or sadly.

  Use the freeze frame to ask, 'Is this character always angry, or are they just feeling angry right now because something happened?' Guide students to see that feelings are temporary and do not define a character's nature.

• During Think-Pair-Share: Character Clue Hunters, watch for students assuming a character only feels what they say out loud.

  Introduce thought bubbles as a visual tool. Ask students to write what the character is thinking versus what they say, using the text and illustrations as evidence. For example, prompt them to compare a character's whispered words to their wide eyes in the picture.

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Methods used in this brief

• Role Play
• Think-Pair-Share
• Inquiry Circle