Mini-Lesson

Character Traits

Mini-Lesson: Grades 4-6

Objective: Students will infer character traits as they read.

1. Start a discussion about character traits. Remind students that these traits describe someone's personality. Together, brainstorm a list of character traits. Then challenge students to categorize each one as positive, negative or neutral.

2. Pass out the timeforkids.com story, A Silver Swimmer. Explain that sometimes authors include information about someone's personality. The rest of the time, it is up to the reader to infer, or figure out, character traits based on clues in the story. Demonstrate based on the second paragraph. For example: It says here that Christine Magnuson has a pre-race ritual in which she always wears the same color toenail polish. That makes me think that she is superstitious. It also says that she used to think she wouldn't be able to qualify for the Olympics. That makes me think she is humble.

3. As students read the article, have them jot down character traits that describe Christine Magnuson. When students share their inferences with the class, encourage them to explain their reasoning.