English Language Arts · Kindergarten · Worlds of Wonder: Exploring Narratives · Weeks 1-9

Identifying Characters and Their Traits

Exploration of how characters act and feel within a story and how those feelings change over time.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3

About This Topic

This topic introduces Kindergarteners to the heart of storytelling: the characters. Students learn to identify who is in the story and how their actions drive the plot. By focusing on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3, students begin to infer a character's feelings through illustrations and dialogue, moving beyond simple identification to understanding motivation. This foundational skill helps children build empathy and prepares them for more complex literary analysis in later grades.

Understanding characters is not just about naming them, it is about recognizing how they react to challenges. In a US classroom, this is an excellent opportunity to introduce diverse protagonists from various backgrounds, ensuring students see themselves and others reflected in the texts. This topic comes alive when students can physically role play a character's emotions or use peer discussion to predict what a character might do next based on their personality.

Key Questions

1. Analyze how a character's facial expressions and body language reveal their feelings.
2. Differentiate between main characters and minor characters in a story.
3. Predict how a character might react to a new problem based on their past actions.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the main character and at least two minor characters in a familiar story.
• Analyze a character's facial expressions and body language to describe their feelings.
• Compare the feelings of a character at the beginning of a story to their feelings at the end.
• Predict how a character might respond to a simple problem based on their known traits.

Before You Start

Identifying Story Elements

Why: Students need to be able to identify basic story components like characters and setting before they can analyze character traits.

Recognizing Basic Emotions

Why: Understanding common emotions like happy, sad, and angry is foundational for analyzing how characters express these feelings.

Key Vocabulary

character	A person or animal who takes part in the action of a story.
trait	A special quality or characteristic that describes how a character acts or feels.
feeling	An emotion a character experiences, like happy, sad, angry, or surprised.
expression	How a character's face looks to show their feelings, such as smiling or frowning.
body language	How a character's body moves or is positioned to show their feelings, like crossing arms or jumping up and down.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Students often think a character's feelings stay the same throughout the entire story.

What to Teach Instead

Use a 'feeling thermometer' during a read-aloud to track how a character moves from sad to happy. Active tracking through physical movement helps students see that characters, like real people, change over time.

Common Misconception

Children may believe only humans can be characters.

What to Teach Instead

Introduce stories with animal or object protagonists. Sorting activities where students categorize 'characters' vs 'settings' help clarify that a character is anyone who performs actions in the narrative.

Active Learning Ideas

Role Play: Emotion Statues

After reading a story, the teacher names a specific event and students must freeze in a pose that shows how the character felt at that moment. Students then explain to a partner why they chose that specific facial expression or body posture.

15 min·Whole Class

Think-Pair-Share: Character Choices

The teacher pauses at a climax in the story and asks what the character should do next. Students turn to a partner to share their idea and one reason why that choice fits the character's personality before the class finishes the book.

10 min·Pairs

Inquiry Circle: Character Suitcase

Small groups look at a collection of 3 to 4 physical items (like a hat, a toy, or a snack) and decide which character from the story they belong to. Groups must present one item and explain the connection to the character's actions in the text.

20 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Actors use facial expressions and body language to show how their characters feel in movies and plays, helping the audience understand the story. For example, an actor might frown and slump their shoulders to show sadness.
• Illustrators for children's books carefully draw characters' faces and poses to help young readers understand their emotions, even before they can read the words. Look at the pictures in your favorite book to see how the artist shows if a character is excited or scared.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Show students a picture of a character from a familiar book making a specific facial expression. Ask: 'What feeling is this character showing? How do you know?' Record student responses.

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a simple scenario, like 'The character lost their favorite toy.' Ask them to draw or write one sentence describing how the character might feel and one way they might show that feeling with their face or body.

Discussion Prompt

Read a short story aloud. After reading, ask: 'Who was the main character? How did they act at the beginning of the story? How did their feelings change by the end? What made them change?' Encourage students to use evidence from the text or illustrations.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I help Kindergarteners identify character traits?

Focus on 'inside' vs 'outside' traits. Use a simple anchor chart with a character drawing. Have students place sticky notes on the outside for physical descriptions and on the inside for feelings or personality traits discovered through their actions.

What are the best books for teaching character choices in Kindergarten?

Look for books with clear cause-and-effect sequences like 'No, David!' or 'The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!' These stories allow students to easily see how a character's specific choice leads directly to a consequence.

How can active learning help students understand character motivations?

Active learning strategies like role play and 'hot seating' allow students to embody the character. When a student pretends to be the character and answers questions from their peers, they have to think deeply about why that character acted a certain way, which builds a much stronger connection than just listening to a teacher explain it.

How do I assess if a student understands a character's feelings?

Observe their ability to match an illustration to an emotion word. You can also ask them to draw a picture of the character at the beginning and end of the story, showing the change in their facial expressions.