English Language Arts · Kindergarten

Active learning ideas

Identifying Characters and Their Traits

Active learning works for characters and traits because young children develop empathy and narrative understanding through movement and discussion, not just listening. When students physically act out emotions and discuss choices, abstract concepts like motivation become concrete and memorable.

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

• 10–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 15 min · Whole Class

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.

Analyze how a character's facial expressions and body language reveal their feelings.

Facilitation Tip

For Emotion Statues, freeze the action between each emotion to give students time to observe and discuss physical cues.

What to look for

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.

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

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 10 min · Pairs

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.

Differentiate between main characters and minor characters in a story.

Facilitation Tip

During Character Choices, provide sentence stems like ‘I think the character felt ____ because ____.’ to scaffold responses.

What to look for

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.

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

Activity 03

• Inquiry Circle
• 20 min · Small Groups

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.

Predict how a character might react to a new problem based on their past actions.

Facilitation Tip

In the Character Suitcase activity, use props to make character traits tangible—include a toy crown for ‘kind’ or a magnifying glass for ‘curious.’

What to look for

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.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract traits in physical and visual evidence. Avoid asking students to infer without visual or textual support, as young children need concrete anchors. Research suggests that combining movement (like statues) with discussion strengthens memory and empathy. Keep language simple but precise—use emotion words daily so they become part of students’ vocabulary.

Successful learning looks like students naming characters, describing traits with evidence from text or pictures, and explaining how a character’s feelings or choices change over time. They should connect actions to feelings and use vocabulary like ‘happy’ or ‘brave’ with examples.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Emotion Statues, watch for students who act out the same emotion repeatedly. Some may think feelings stay fixed.

  After freezing in one emotion, prompt students to slowly transition to another emotion using the ‘feeling thermometer’ strip taped to the floor. Ask them to show the change step-by-step.

• During Collaborative Investigation: Character Suitcase, students may sort stuffed animals or objects as settings instead of characters.

  Have students physically place items into a suitcase labeled ‘Character Traits’ or ‘Setting Props’ after naming the character they represent, reinforcing that only characters perform actions.

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Methods used in this brief

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