Skirtich 2013

Story Elements Lesson Plan- Characters

Grade level: First Grade
Lesson title Whos Who in the Story? Lets Meet the Characters!
Step 1Desired Results
Common Core Reading and Language Arts Standards:
RL.1.3 Describe characters, setting, and major events in a story using key details.
RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe characters, setting, and or events.
Step 2Assessment Evidence
Performance taskWhat will students do to show what they have learned?
Performance criteriaHow good is good enough to meet standards?

TSW create an art project based on the description of the characters in the story of
The Tortoise and The Hare.

TSW recall details about the characters from The Tortoise and The Hare and identify
what a character is and how characters play different roles in the story.

TSW act out behaviors that the characters take on in The Tortoise and The Hare in
order to more thoroughly understand their roles in the story.

Step 3Learning Plan

Learning activities (step by step from start to finish, detailed enough for another teacher to follow)
1. The teacher will remind the students of their unit on stories and indicate to the
students that they will be learning about another important element of stories today.
2. The teacher will prompt the students to listen for specific details about the various
animals in the story as she reads them The Tortoise and The Hare.
3. The students will then be rearranged in groups of 3 or 4 with large butcher paper
spread across their tables in front of them. There will be various crayons in front of

Skirtich 2013

them for their use.

4. The teacher will then ask the students to illustrate the different animals in the story,
recalling details about the animals and what happened in the story. They can then
draw on the paper in front of them to show their work. Since the students are seated
in small groups, they can work together to remember all of the various parts of the
story. After the students finish, the teacher will re-read the story in case they missed
any critical pieces of information, helping those students who might have auditory
learning problems.
5. The teacher will then hang up each groups paper on the chalk board and have all of
the small groups show-and-tell about their posters, pointing out the various animals
in the story. They will orally tell the class which animal was which, and what he or
she did in the story. They can also identify how the animal behaved and what he or
she said in the story.
6. After the students finish presenting, the teacher will gather the students in the
Reading Area at the front of the classroom and ask them to sit on the floor. The
teacher will then explain the roles of the animals in the story, explaining that they are
the characters. She will use the paper animals on the easel for the students reference
of the characters from The Tortoise and The Hare.
7. She will then instruct the students to get back into their groups and pretend that they
are the characters in the story. She will prompt them to act out The Tortoise and The
Hare. Then, they will be combining the first set of skills from their activity of
drawing with the second activity of developing their skills of presenting and roleplaying.

Step 4Reflection
What happened during my lesson? What did my students learn? How do I know?
What did I learn? How will I improve my lesson next time?

Skirtich 2013

Adapted from Tomlinson and McTighe, Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design, ASCD,
2006.

Tools for Assessment

Written

Oral

Visual

Kinesthetic

Skirtich 2013

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