1. Characters, setting, and events

2. I can describe the characters, setting, and events in a story.
Our objective
I can describe the characters, setting, and events in a story.

3. write, it, cap it, flip it? What are characters?
People or animals in a story
What is the setting?
The time and location a story takes place
What are events?
The plot (stuff that happens) in the story

4. Vocabulary journals
Character traits – adjectives that describe the personality of a character.
Character traits can be positive…
Example: friendly, hard-working, focused, smart…
Character traits can also be negative…
Example: lazy, boastful, stingy…
Write it, cap it, flip it: Record two positive and two negative character traits on your whiteboard.

5. What character traits do you have?
Look over the list of character traits.
What kind of person are you?
List three traits on your whiteboard that describe you. Next to each trait, write evidence (reasoning) to explain why that adjective describes you.
Share your traits with your shoulder partner.
Raise your hand to share a trait with the class!

6. Implicit (hidden) character traits
The tricky part about identifying character traits in stories is that authors do not always SAY what traits the character has.
Example: Jared is a football player training over the summer with his team. The coach requires that all players come in at 6:00am and lift weights until 8:00am, when practice begins. Jared gets there at 5:00am to begin his training.
Jared’s character traits can be identified as: hard- working, ambitious, dedicated, and focused.
The author never wrote this about Jared, but we can make an inference (good guess) about what type of person Jared is. We then justify our evidence by finding details that support this inference from the passage.
Passage from

7. Let’s try one!
Karina came back from the bathroom and noticed that her rainbow pencil was missing. She looked around the classroom and noticed that Hailey was using a rainbow pencil. Karina started crying uncontrollably and ran out of the room.
Write two traits that describe Karina’s character.
Did you say… sensitive, moody, childish, timid, cowardly?
What details help describe Karina based on her actions?
Did you say…she started crying and ran out of the room instead of asking Hailey if it was her pencil?
Passage from

8. 2
Melvin found a wallet on the ground. He opened up the wallet and found a woman’s ID card, credit cards, and money. Melvin walked to the woman’s house, and returned her wallet and everything inside of it to her.
What character traits does Melvin demonstrate? Write 2 or 3 on your whiteboard.
Did you say…thoughtful, honest, considerate, caring?
What details help describe Melvin based on his actions?
Did you say….he returned the stuff instead of leaving it or stealing it?
Passage from

9. Now, let’s go back to karina’s story and focus on the setting.
Karina came back from the bathroom and noticed that her rainbow pencil was missing. She looked around the classroom and noticed that Hailey was using a rainbow pencil. Karina started crying uncontrollably and ran out of the room.
Where does this story take place?
Did you say….school? 
What detail helps describe where the story takes place?
Did you say… classroom?
Even though the passage doesn’t say “school”, we can infer that this happened at school because of the detail “classroom”
Passage from

10. Now, let’s go back to melvin’s story, and focus on the theme (moral).
Melvin found a wallet on the ground. He opened up the wallet and found a woman’s ID card, credit cards, and money. Melvin walked to the woman’s house, and returned her wallet and everything inside of it to her.
What lesson can you learn from Melvin’s story?
Did you say…be honest and trustworthy?
Passage from

11. write it, cap it, flip it: answer all 4 questions on your whiteboard 
Evan invited a bunch of friends over to his house. He then talked to them for hours about all of the trophies he had won, his rare comic book collection, and all the money his dad makes. His friends did not enjoy their time over at Evan’s.
What character traits does Evan demonstrate? List 2 or 3.
What details help describe Evan based on his actions?
What detail helps you describe where the story takes place?
What lesson can you learn from Evan’s story?
Passage from

12. answers
1) Evan is boastful, conceited, and talkative. (There are different possible answers.)
2) Evan brags for hours to his friends about various things.
3) The setting is at Evan’s house, because the story says “Evan invited a bunch of friends over to his house”
4) A lesson we can learn is to be humble. (There are different possible answers.)