In second grade, we recently finished a BIG balanced literacy unit on characters.
First, we learned about character traits. After we discussed character traits for a few days, I had students write down some of their own character traits on paper frames. They loved it.
Next, we had a discussion about how like we are growing up, characters are growing up, too. Although we may still want things we can touch like toys and games, we also want things that we can’t touch. We have to put ourselves in the character’s shoes and determine what it is that they really want.
To see if my kiddos understood, I had them draw a quick self-portrait and write a sentence or two about what they wanted. I was amazed by how quickly my students grasped this concept! Some of the things that they want in life are so precious!!
“I want to be a good person.”
“I want to make my family proud of me.”
“I want to be a very good citizen.”
“What I want is to help people with cancer survive.”
“I want to be a good friend.”
My heart is melting! Cue the tears!
As a culminating project and bulletin board display, I decided to have the kids make “trading cards” for the characters that they had spent a few weeks exploring. All of my kiddos are really into Pokemon right now, so I made a Pokemon look-alike template and I just knew that would love it. They did! The trading cards turned out great. Sorry that I don’t have better pictures!
You can download the trading card template here in my TPT store.
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