The Power of Storytelling · Autumn Term

Characters and Their Feelings

Identifying how authors use words and illustrations to show how a character feels throughout a story.

About This Topic

Understanding characters and their feelings is a cornerstone of the NCCA Primary Language Curriculum. In 1st Year, students move beyond simply identifying a character to exploring the 'why' behind their actions. By examining both the text and the illustrations, children learn to infer emotions that might not be explicitly stated. This skill builds empathy and deepens comprehension, helping students connect their own life experiences to the stories they read.

This topic is essential for developing oral language and reading fluency. When students can articulate how a character feels, they are better equipped to use expressive voices during shared reading. This topic comes alive when students can physically model the facial expressions and body language of the characters they encounter in their favorite books.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how specific word choices and illustrative details reveal a character's emotions.
• Explain the sequence of events in a story, identifying the beginning, middle, and end.
• Compare and contrast the feelings of two characters in the same story.
• Justify a character's decision by referencing plot events and their emotional state.
• Identify instances where illustrations provide emotional context not present in the text.

Before You Start

Identifying Main Characters and Setting

Why: Students need to be able to identify who the story is about before they can analyze their feelings.

Sequencing Story Events

Why: Understanding the order of events is crucial for analyzing how those events impact a character's emotions.

Key Vocabulary

Emotion	A strong feeling such as happiness, sadness, anger, or fear that a character experiences.
Illustrations	Pictures in a book that help tell the story and can show how characters are feeling through facial expressions or body language.
Infer	To figure something out based on clues in the text and pictures, rather than being told directly.
Facial Expression	The look on a character's face that shows their feelings, like a smile for happy or a frown for sad.
Body Language	How a character's body is positioned or moving, which can show their emotions, such as slumped shoulders for sadness.

Active Learning Ideas

Role Play: The Emotion Mirror

In pairs, one student reads a sentence from a story while the other acts out the character's emotion using only facial expressions and gestures. The class then guesses the feeling and points to the specific word or illustration that gave them the clue.

⏱ 20 min·Pairs

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Gallery Walk: Character Clues

Place large print-outs of book illustrations around the room. Students walk around in small groups with sticky notes, labeling the 'clues' (like a slumped posture or a wide smile) that show how the character is feeling in that moment.

⏱ 25 min·Small Groups

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Think-Pair-Share: Changing Feelings

After reading a story, students think about how a character felt at the start versus the end. They share their ideas with a partner, focusing on the specific event that caused the character's mood to shift.

⏱ 15 min·Pairs

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Real-World Connections

Actors study scripts to understand their character's emotions and use facial expressions and body language to convey these feelings to an audience in a play or film.

Animators for companies like Disney or Pixar carefully draw characters' faces and movements to communicate a wide range of emotions, making animated stories engaging for viewers.

Therapists and counselors help people identify and express their feelings, using active listening and observation of body language to understand how someone is truly feeling.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Students often think a character only has one feeling throughout a whole story.

What to Teach Instead

Use a 'feeling thermometer' during a read-aloud to track how emotions change. Peer discussion helps students see that a character can feel brave and scared at the same time.

Common Misconception

Children may believe they can only find feelings in the words, ignoring the pictures.

What to Teach Instead

Conduct a 'picture walk' where the text is covered. This forces students to use visual literacy skills to decode the character's internal state through artistic cues.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Give students a picture of a character from a familiar story. Ask them to write two sentences: one describing the character's facial expression or body language, and one stating what emotion they think the character is feeling and why.

Discussion Prompt

Read a short passage with clear emotional cues. Ask: 'What words did the author use to show how [character name] was feeling? What details in the illustrations helped you understand their feelings? How did these feelings change throughout the passage?'

Quick Check

During shared reading, pause at a moment where a character makes a choice. Ask: 'Why do you think [character name] chose to do that right now? What were they feeling that might have led to this choice?' Have students give a thumbs up if they agree with the explanation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can active learning help students understand character feelings?

Active learning allows students to embody the character. By using role play and physical movement, children move from passive listening to active empathy. When they physically mimic a character's frown or joyful jump, the emotional vocabulary becomes more concrete and memorable than simply hearing a teacher define the word 'sad' or 'excited'.

What if a student struggles to name an emotion?

Provide a visual 'emotion wheel' with Irish-context illustrations. Encourage them to point to the feeling first, then work with a partner to find the word that matches.

How do I assess if they understand character change?

Ask students to draw the character at the beginning and end of the story. If the facial expressions differ correctly, they have grasped the narrative arc.

Are illustrations as important as the text in 1st Year?

Yes, the NCCA curriculum emphasizes multi-modal literacy. Illustrations often provide the subtext that young readers cannot yet decode from complex vocabulary.