Lensey Namioka’s Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear provides an opportunity for young readers to observe how writers bring their characters to life. Each class member selects a character to trace through the novel, recording...

A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...

Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines...

Class groups assume the identity of one of the primary human characters in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They create a body biography that identifies the most important traits of their character, translate these traits into...

Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this lesson, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-lesson on participial phrases and reading the picture book Dancing in the Wings, pupils use a...

From British accents to Texan drawls, a character's dialect can be an important part of the reading experience. A Six-Trait writing activity guides learners through the analysis of a character's dialect (Daniel Keyes's Flowers for...

In this personality traits worksheet, students, working with a partner, complete a questionnaire about their birth order and the traits that make their personality so unique and different.

Six pages begin with a detailed introduction to meiosis and homologous chromosome pairs. Instructions guide learners through a simulation in which they draw craft sticks marked with autosomes in order to decode the genes inherited by...

Develop a mystery character using clues from a bag. This engaging activity will help learners understand character traits. They develop a list of the items from the bag, discuss and develop the character with a partner, and create a...

Some of what we know about a character is directly stated. Some of what we know is inferred by events in the story. Character maps help primary learners recognize the difference. After modeling with a story your class has read, pupils...

Characters are built with more than just what the author directly says about a character (ex: she is smart). Help your pupils focus on several elements of characterization with a graphic organizer that has space for two characters....

Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details...

Explore a story's character by using this character wheel. Kids will love this graphic organizer. It's easy to use, and there are spaces to write character traits and textual evidence that supports those traits. This is a great middle...

What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...

Fifth graders work together to make simple menus more interesting by adding descriptive words. This plan works well with the Six Traits of Writing as it covers the trait of word choice. This is a really fun way for students to practice...

In this reading response worksheet, students fill out a character trait chart about one character in a story they have read. Students list the traits they see and describe how these traits are revealed through events, actions, words,...

Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...

Groups become experts in one aspect of the six traits of writing, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, jigsaw, and teach others about their trait. Writers then focus on these traits as they compose a persuasive essay about a person they...

Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...

Use drawings as inspiration. Have learners doodle for 10 minutes before beginning the lesson. Then, have them use their doodles to inspire a story. Several writing activities are included here to play with writing. One of my favorites...

Students discuss character traits, and complete a character map and a Venn diagram for selected characters in their assigned text.

Students discuss historical accounts and accomplishments of "Benjamin Franklin" which exemplify good character traits. They create a display of paper keys which describe these traits. They relate these traits to their future goals and...