Bloom’s (Taxonomy) Unit: Characters
Last year, I experimented with structuring my Reading lessons according to the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Every concept within a genre would be covered following which level of Bloom’s it was and I would follow Bloom’s within the week I covered the concept.
For the third week of the Bloom’s Unit: Fiction, I focused on Characters(Apply). Here’s how it went.
Knowledge: Identify Character Traits
Hook: Flocabulary Characters
To introduce Characters, I played Flocabulary’s Characters song. The kids really enjoyed.
I(Do): As a follow up, I reviewed a list of character traits with the kids. They were excited to know the meaning of those big words.
Audio-Aloud: Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
Since I knew the kids would have to write down the traits of the characters, I turned the read-aloud into an audio-aloud. It seemed to help as the kids were able to articulate the traits of the main characters—Nyasha and Manyaro.
Modeled Instruction and We(Do): Character Traits Exercises
Concluding the lesson, I modeled how to determine the character traits and allowed the kids to work with a partner. They demonstrated mastery of identifying character traits.
Comprehension: Explain Character Traits
Video-Aloud: The Magic Pot
I wanted to push the kids a little further on the second day, so I started the lesson with a video-aloud with the purpose of giving evidence to support the character traits.
Amazingly, the kids were able to generate the proper terminology. One child even stated that the king the story was “greedy.”
Shared Reading: The School Play
I read a passage with the kids. Afterwards, I asked them to determine the character traits of the two main characters: Rachel and Maggie.
They correctly determined(with a little pushing)–that Maggie was “hard-working.” After a little prodding, the kids determined that Rachel was “arrogant.”
With that sample size, I could see that kids comprehended what the characters were doing, but they didn’t yet have the vocabulary to articulate their traits. That’s an issue no matter the grade. I saw similar issues with 4th and 5th graders.
We(Do): The Kickball Tournament
Working with a partner, the kids did a good job of articulating the character traits of one character.
Apply: Interpreting Characters
Video-Aloud: Inside Out Video Clip
To introduce Interpreting Character Feelings, I played a clip from “Inside Out”…walking them through the different ways they manipulated the characters emotions.
I(Do): Character Feelings Anchor Chart
After the video-aloud, I defined several character feelings…giving the kids more of a repertoire.
Shared Reading: The Shopping Trip
I walked through a story with the kids…modeling which character actions were important and acting out certain parts. The coolest moment was at the end of the story. I stopped at one part and asked the kids how the character felt. The kids responded in unison: Honest!!!
We(Do): Pocahontas
Following Shared Reading, I let the kids practice the skill.
Analyze: Analyze The Character Impact On Story
To help the kids analyze, I utilized the TRTW(Talk 1, Read, Talk 2, Write) routine.
Talk 1: Maleficent Video Clips
In an effort to test the kid’s knowledge of character impact, I played two clips from Maleficent. In the first clip, Maleficent walks into the wedding…putting the curse on the king and queen. After showing the clip, I asked the kids: How did the characters respond to Maleficent?
One of my kids had the perfect response: “Nervous because of the look on their faces.”
The second clip was an interaction between Maleficent and Baby Aurora. Then I asked: How did the baby Aurora respond to Maleficent?
Response #1: Happy because when she told her to go along now, she wouldn’t.
Response #2: Happy. Maleficent was the first person she saw, so she probably thought Maleficent was a mother. (Then the child went on to explain that the first person children see is normally their mother.)
Pushing the kids some more, I asked them how Maleficent responded to Aurora. Once child had a great response: Nice because she looked in the baby’s eyes like she loved her.
Read: Cricket and Cougar
I had the kids read a story—Cricket and Cougar—about a Cougar who gives a Cricket a hard time. The kids gets its cousin—a mosquito—to terrorize the Cougar into leaving him alone.
Talk 2: Discuss Cricket and Cougar
The kids discussed three questions with their partner: How did Cricket respond to Cougar? Why did Cougar leave Cricket alone? Have you ever had a friend like Cougar?
Write: Answer The Questions
After the kids answered the questions, I debriefed with them.
Question #1: How did Cricket respond to Cougar?
Best Response: Mean because he told him to get off his log.
Question #2: Why did Cougar leave Cricket alone? The mosquito was buzzing around his ear and he didn’t want to get bit anymore.
Question #3: Have you every dealt with a friend like Cougar? Paraphrasing the responses, one child said that they had a friend who like to “make fun.” Another child said they had a friend who like to “push and hit.” A third child said that they had a sibling who was “annoying” like the character. A fourth child described a cousin who bullied her after she beat her at something.
They identified the character trait of one of the characters while making a Text-To-Self Connection.
Evaluate: Assessment
I gave the kids a quick five question quiz. 16/19 passed.
Synthesis: Alternate Ending
As a synthesis question, I asked the kids how the main character would have felt if she wouldn’t have found “The Harmonica” in the story. The best responses.
Response #1: Sad because she would have to do homework while the band was playing.
Response #2: Sad because she wouldn’t get future to play with her brother.
Response #3: Bad because she wouldn’t have known the harmonica was there. If she didn’t find the harmonica, her brother’s band would all the noise and she wouldn’t be able to concentrate and fail the test.
Unit Success: 100 percent.
Next Concepts: Inferencing and Compare and Order Numbers(Expanding To Math)
The Phenomenal Student 