First Grade Lesson: Brave New Kid

Author: Nicole Good

Date created: 11/07/2013 8:13 PM EDT ; Date modified: 11/07/2013 8:49 PM EDT
Basic Information
Summary In this lesson, students will listen to "Brave New Kid" read by the teacher. After that they will look at a different book to
try and determine what their character traits are.
Grade/Level Grade 1
Time Frame 45 Minutes
Subject(s) Language Arts (English)
Topic(s) Literature
Notes
Standards And Key Concepts
Standards
CA- California Common Core State Standards (2012)
Subject: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
Grade: Grade 1 students:
Content Area: Literature K-5
Strand: Reading
Domain: Key Ideas and Details
Standard:
3. Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
Understandings The big idea of this lesson is determining different character traits of characters in a story.
Essential Questions What are the traits of the characters in this book?
Can I relate to these traits?
Knowledge and Skills -The learner will write the about a trait of the character in the story.
-The learner will write/share one of their own character traits.
-The learner will work in partners to examine a trait of a character in a book.
Performance Tasks And Assessment
Performance Task You will be reading a book with your partner, looking specifically for character traits thoughout the story as you read.
Performance Prompt To begin the lesson, the teacher prompts the students with the question: "f you could use one word to describe yourself what would it be and
why?
Assessment/Rubrics The students will be assessed by teacher observation during the guided practice and analyzing student work.
Learning Experiences And Resources
Sequence of Activities Introduction to the lesson:
To begin the lesson, the teacher prompts the students with the question: "If you could use one word to describe
yourself what would it be and why? After sharing the students ideas, the teacher would introduce the lesson. There
are so many different ways to describe a character, like what they are wearing or their mood, but we are going to learn
how to describe a character better by trying to figure out traits that a character has. The reason why this is important is
because you are going to be able to understand a character better and be able to use these great character trait words
to use in your own writing. This way, your characters are going to become more influential in your stories and writing.

Through the lesson:
a) Activate background knowledge and establish context for the lesson: "Before we begin our story, lets use these markers
to write a character trait that someone might have on the board. After this, the teacher would go over the traits the
students put on the board. After this, "this is a list of different traits a character might have. Some of them are the same
as ones on the list. After going over the list of character traits, the teacher would read, "The Brand New Kid. "This story
is about a students first day at a new school. I want you to pay close attention to the character in this story named Ellie
and what her character traits my be, because after we are going to brainstorm and come up with a list of traits for her.
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b) Instructional Strategies:
Modeling: The teacher will demonstrate this activity by providing a list of different character traits that can be used to
describe a character after brainstorming a few the students may already know. Then, the teacher will read a mentor text
modeling Ellie who has strong character traits in the book "The Brand New Kid.
Guided Practice: After reading the book, the teacher will guide the students in a discussion about Ellies traits. The
teacher will write/model the trait, and determine why this trait was chosen in the same way the student should on their
own.
Independent Practice: The teacher will pass out a book to each group to determine the trait of the character in the story
and why they chose that trait.

Close:
Students will come together as a group and share on trait they found in their book. Then, we will see if any traits were
similar.

Differentiated Instruction -Students with an emergent/ early understanding of the concept being taught: These students will be provided with a list of
common character traits that could be used for reference and pulled aside during partner work for extra assistance.
-Students ready to move to a more complex level of the concept being taught: These students can find character traits of
other characters in the story. They could also try to determine other character traits that may not be so obvious for the
character.
Resources
Materials and resources:
-"The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric
Other Mentor Text options:
-"A Chair for my Mother by Vera B. Williams
-"Brothers in Hope by Mary Williams
-Binder Paper
-Whiteboard/Pens
-Character Traits Poster
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