Interactive Character Analysis-Makeover Madness

I'm very excited when a "party" motivates me to get some work done! :) I've been wanting to add to these posters for a while now, so thanks to the TPT Seller Challenge hostesses for getting my butt in gear!

NEWLY UPDATED:

Interactive Character Analysis Posters

I've been using my character analysis posters for a couple of years now and I decided I wanted to try to make my teaching of these 50 character traits more explicit. I designed these 1/2 page, quick to model graphic organizers for each character trait.

I think this 5 minutes of direct instruction will prove invaluable when discussing characters all year. The organizers will allow me to quickly go over the trait, definition, and behaviors/actions that a character would demonstrate with each trait. 

The "secret" to getting your students to use these interactive posters and identifying character traits on their own is...

Consistency.

In those first few weeks/months of school, you need to model/discuss these traits with every mentor text you share with your class. For some books you may share one trait, for others you may have more. My students find it interesting how popular tenacious or courageous become and don't want to let the other traits feel "left out", so they start trying to find mentor texts for me to share with characters exhibiting those traits. I seem to share a lot of texts that have characters that are determined, hopeful, and optimistic. As part of MY summer homework, I plan to find new mentor texts that have sly, fierce, or humorous characters. 

These posters are referred to all year-perfect for making connections and comparing characters across texts. They are highly visible in the front of our classroom and each Post-It that is placed on the posters is shared with the class. All thinking must be justified by using text evidence. This sharing time is crucial for all of my learners-it allows my struggling learners to hear that deep thinking and my advanced learners to debate if they think a character has a more prominent trait throughout the text. 

*I promise this sharing and learning  transfers over to their independent work.

Highly visible and USED, the word "interactive" means just that. I like pretty things hanging on my walls too, but if you hang things to be made as a visual or as a reference tool, then you need to model the "use" of them so your students will use them too. They are a tool for me and my students to use in our classroom (the placement of these posters are a constant reminder to all of us). Here are some samples:

There are three things we do in our classroom consistently with each text we share character traits, theme, and figurative language. It just becomes natural for my students to add/find these things on their own after a couple of months of school.

{Insert excited, dancing teacher who is looping with her class next year and should be able to start these things back up again on day ONE!! I can't wait to see how our routines will fall back into place and how we will take it to the next level!} Here is an example I typed up from last year.

This set includes 50 posters, but I only have 35 posted at a time. I change them out as they get filled to expose my students to as many higher level traits as possible. 

If you've purchased this product, download again for the added organizers. :)

Click here to check it out! 

You may have other purchases that have been revised too! Under you purchases, sort by "Recently Revised" and it will list all the products that have had revisions. The product may have additional pages/resources that have been added or a correction made.

Spark Student Motivation: Post-It Note Bookmark

Happy Saturday Friends! Thank you for visiting!
You're going to get a goodie today! :)


I had something else scheduled for today, but because of my students' overwhelming excitement about something I made them last week, I just had to share!
And, of course, if you follow my blog you know I have a small obsession with POST-ITS. Why hasn't 3M contacted me yet??

I know you're going to LOVE it too! Want to know why? Because it's the simple things we do that get our students to be excited about reading!

Here it is....

Every year I implement Reader's Notebooks in my classroom and every year I seem to have a different thing I need to tweak. I want to make sure our writing to each other every week is meaningful and purposeful. I had several students that were reading plenty of books, but were getting "stuck" when it came to writing about it in their letters. I created this bookmark with some of the things I like them to include in their letters, hoping if they marked them as they read, it would be easier to transfer to their notebooks. Guess what??!! It's working! After a few days, I had them start adding the page numbers to their sticky notes in case they fell out or wanted to "cite specific evidence" from their text.

 I love the simplicity of it! It's a bookmark to hold your place, a reference for annotation symbols, and a holder for sticky notes to hold your thinking!

Of course, you have to have several package of sticky notes in stock because they definitely get excited to use them!! I did a mini-lesson on how to use them "effectively" and not to use them to decorate the pages of our books! Each bookmark has a small stack of sticky notes and students can refill as needed. I'm just so excited to see them using them every time they read!



  I actually had to make two sets for my class because my students wanted to bring them home and some kept forgetting to bring them back. So, now we have twice as many opportunity to keep track of our thinking! Plus, I made a set for my sweet friend who teaches 5th grade (my son's awesome teacher) for them to keep track of their too!

 

Want to make a set for your class or small group? Grab it HERE free! If you download, feedback is always appreciated! :) I just added this page to my Reading With Post-Its II product, so if you own it, you can just download again. If you don't own it, check it out! Templates can be used ALL YEAR LONG, make their reading interactive and hold their thinking! Perfect for whole group, small group, or independent use.

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

Monday Made Its: For the home, class, and TPT with a FREE offer!

I finally get to link up with my friend Tara for her Monday Made It!


I have three made-its to show you! One for the home, one for my classroom and a new product on TPT. I've been busy! :)
I made this subway art for my house-I have it hanging at our entryway.

The established year is the year we moved into our home, but it could also be the year you got married. :) Had it developed at Sam's Club (only $3!)! I even made one for the photo manager because she liked mine so much!

 

I was inspired to make my "SPIRIT STICKS" by this Fourth of July idea I saw on Pinterest. I thought these would make an awesome addition to my classroom! I can't wait to write about them for a Spark Student Motivation Saturday post! :)

 
Aren't they adorable??? I love them! I know my students will be very excited to use these for celebrations!

 

Materials Needed:
wooden dowels 1/4" or 3/8" x 12"
eye screws 8 x 18mm
ribbon
spray paint

Instructions:
Spray paint the wooden dowels
Screw the eye screw into one end of the dowel
Cut ribbon (I used 8 pieces and cut them varying lengths from 10"-16")
Thread ribbon through screw eye-no need to knot them, they fit snugly.
Trim ends if necessary

Tips:
I used 1/4" dowels and a few split when screwing in the eye screw, I would use the next size up.
I nailed a small nail in one end of the dowel to make screwing in the screw eye easier, but it was still tricky.
I also threaded all of the ribbons at one time.

 And, now for the reveal of my new product...Guided Reading with Post-Its! This pack will be a terrific resource for ideas, skill grouping of students, anecdotal record keeping, and a perfect tool for conferencing. The benefit of using sticky notes is the flexibility to move them around when monitoring student progress. Of course, I really like to move those sticky notes to the (+/mastery sign), but this visual is great for my planning. This resource is perfect for students to “hold” their thinking while reading and be interactive with the text. These templates are perfect to teach students to be concise and thoughtful with their language due to limited space.

Use all year long! Perfect to help you know your students' reading strengths and weaknesses and prepare you to discuss each student with parents, other teachers, and administrators.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 My next Made It is my new Punch Cards!

Motivate and reward your students' behavior, hard work, and accomplishments with these colorful punch cards! Incentives can be given when all 10 spaces on a card have been punched.
Students love them because they can keep track of their own progress!
This resource includes:
15 individual student punch cards plus 2 blank templates
6 whole class punch cards plus 1 blank template

THESE ARE ON SALE UNTIL TONIGHT!

Perfect for back to school!

 

 Hope you're enjoying your last weeks of summer-it's almost time to start over again! :)

 

Tried It Tuesday: Seating Arrangements Made Easy!

We're almost half way through the week! I'm linking up with the one and only, Holly, for her Tried It Tuesday!

I wanted to share something I've TRIED and WISHED I would've thought of earlier in my teaching career!! Here's a quick tip that I hope will save you some time! :)

 

Several years ago I thought I was so clever creating a template of my seating arrangement...every time I would change desks, all I had to do was whip out my handy template and fill the names in. I could do it from home, in the car, in my classroom...great idea, right?

Well, isn't it a pain when you realize you've written someone's name twice, or those two students shouldn't be together, or let me go through the list to see who I've forgotten because I have one empty desk?! And, NO, I can't put her in that spot, they'll talk too much!

 

Here's the easy and quick solution:

(I'm disappointed and embarrassed I didn't think of this until last year with my HUGE affection for Post-Its!)

Write each of your students' names on a post-it (once, and ONLY once the entire year!). Make sure you keep these Post-Its and piece of paper in a safe place in your desk drawer, and when you want to change desks, manipulate your Post-Its! So clever right?

You're welcome! :)

 

 

 Now, I color-coded mine for girls and boys so I can get a quick visual for each group. But, as you can see, I'm very girl heavy this year, so I can only separate them so much. So easy and I don't dread desk changes as much!

Check out all the other great Tried Its at Fourth Grade Flipper!

 

 

Don't forget the big Teacher Appreciation Sale on TPT!

My store is 20% off, plus an additional savings of 10% off from TPT.