Lesson Plan Activity Title & Big Idea: Character Trading Cards Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Unit Overview/Summary: Students will make a small trading card about a character in a book they are reading Class Periods Required: 1-2
independently after practicing the process with the whole group. Students will then present their trading cards to the
class and compare and contrast the character traits seen in the character they chose with other characters we have seen.
Students will learn about what it means to be a leader through examining characters in books.
Key Concepts (2-3)
Empathy for characters in stories
Artistic Representation of Characters
Objectives:
Students will learn about and use the response strategy of creating character trading cards
Students will share their character trading cards with each other and compare and contrast the traits seen in their characters
National Standards (1-2 per subject) Content Areas Integrated:
RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or 1. Reading
feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of 2. Writing
events. 3. Art
RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a texts illustrations contribute
to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood,
emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
Lesson Plan Activity Sequence/Order:
1. Greet students and have them join you on the carpet.
2. Introduce them to Mr. Lincolns Way by Patricia Polacco and tell them today you will be focusing on the characters in this book; instruct them to
listen for specific details about the characters as you read.
3. Read Mr. Lincolns Way pausing to discuss students noticings about the characters. The teacher may need to model these noticings first or they may
flow naturally from the students depending on background knowledge and previous experiences of the students.
4. After completing Mr. Lincolns Way, discuss the characters with questions like: who changed the most in the story and why? What did Mr. Lincoln do
that helped Eugene? Why do you think Mr. Lincoln made such a big difference in Eugenes life?
5. As a class decide which character you want to create a trading card for and go to http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-
resources/games-tools/trading-card-creator-a-30181.html (You can use a different template, but this one is set up really nice to talk about
characters)
6. As a class, create a character card for either Mr. Lincoln or Eugene, letting the students tell you what to write down.
7. Tell students that now they will have the chance to try the same thing with their own reading. Have students Think, Pair, Share about what character
they could create a trading card about in their independent reading book.
8. Have students continue working with this partner to create a trading card. Students can create these using laptops and the same website or the
teacher can print out the template and have students write on them. Partners will help their peers brainstorm whenever they get stuck on a question
or are having trouble reading a question.
 9. After students have created their cards, they will share with the whole class and the class will compare and contrast the traits of the characters they
hear about. This will begin to facilitate text-to-text connections as students are thinking about characters in different books and how they are similar
or dissimilar.

What student prior knowledge will this unit require/draw upon?

This lesson requires students to draw on their prior knowledge of reading and reading comprehension. Students are expected to listen to the story and draw
out details about the characters. This text is chosen specifically because it has two strong characters, one who exhibits strong leadership and compassion and
the other who grows from a hateful, angry boy, to a model citizen as Polacco writes. Students will also have to draw on these reading comprehension and
meaning-making skills to create a card about their own character.
How will this Lesson Plan Activity permit/encourage students to solve problems (to think) in divergent ways?
This lesson encourages students to choose a character of their own to write about. While I think the template on Read Write Think is really cool, I would
encourage my students to be creative, and if they wanted to create a character trading card in a different way I would encourage them to do so, so long as it
was sufficiently detailed.
How will you engage students in routinely reflecting on their learning/learning processes?
Students are asked to reflect on the activity after reading the whole book to examine how characters acted and how they changed. This type of reflection
builds higher-lever thinking, and reading comprehension. The question isnt just what did the characters do? (recall) but what does this tell us about the
characters and how did they change? (analytical)
How will this Lesson Plan Activity engage students in assessing their own work and the work of peers?
Ongoing, formative assessment will be conducted by the teacher through checking in with students as they work and present. Students are not explicitly
engaged in assessing their own work, but they do comment and reflect on the presentation of other trading cards by students. While this is not assessment
tied to a grade, it is assessment of their peers work and analysis of how it is similar or different to their own characters.
What opportunities/activities will students be given to revise and improve their understandings and their work?
Students practice creating a character card whole class before being expected to create one about a character of their own. This gives them the chance to
ask questions and learn the procedure of creating a character card before diving in. They are also partnered so that they have a source to turn to, before the
teacher, to help them revise and improve their understandings and their work. Partnership skills would need to be explicitly taught before the lesson and
briefly reviewed before partner work commenced so that students know they can ask their partner questions like: Does this make sense? or Can you help
me think about question number 2?
What opportunities/activities will you provide for students to share their learning/understanding/work in this Activity?
Students share their thinking and learning at the end of the activity when they present their character cards. This is a chance for students to talk about what
theyre learning about specific characters and how they know those details (from specific facts in their books). Students also begin to connect with each
other and their characters by discussing similarities and differences between the characters presented.