English Language Arts Grade 5
Reading: Literature Standard 2
1 class periods of 30 minutes each
Small Groups
Using popular trade books students will create a character map by first working on their own, and then in small groups. Students will share their work with the whole class.
Suggested titles:
The teacher may use any trade books he or she is comfortable with, however, it is important that the teacher is familiar with the characters in each book so that the students can be monitored and assisted with their projects.
Students should be comfortable reading the text provided. The material needs to be at the student's independent reading level.
Students will understand how to create an organizational web. They will discuss and recall events from the book they have read.
Students will then add different characteristics of that character on the arms of the web.
The title of the book should be in the center of the poster and each character map will extend from the title.
Struggling students may need to work in pairs to brainstorm ideas. Gifted students could create maps of books they have read on their own.
Students could use a ladder organizer to write down events in the order they happened in the story.
This lesson can be adapted for use with a read aloud book the teacher presents to the class over a period of time, or as a book report option for small groups that have been reading different selections in literature circles.
Teacher will assess student's learning by listening to and observing the final products the students have created.