Characters

What is a character?A character is a person in a story. Characters have feelings, thoughts, and problems.

To learn about the characters in a story, pay attention to their actions, thoughts, and words and their relationships with other characters.

What is a character trait?A character trait is something special about the character.

It can be something special about the way the character looks or the way a character acts.

Traits are words like “smart,” “pretty,” “old,” and “funny.”

Find the Character Traits Billy is a young boy with short blonde hair. He enjoys playing football, soccer, and baseball. Billie has a lot of friends and loves playing sports with them after school.

What are some traits to describe Billy?

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Billy is a young boy with short blonde hair. He enjoys playing football, soccer, and baseball. Billie has a lot of friends and loves playing sports with them after school.

likes sportsblonde hairfriendly

What is a relationship?A relationship shows how two or more characters connect with each other. Characters can be friends, family, or teammates.

Some characters get along very well, and sometimes characters fight and do not get along. This is part of their relationship.

Find the Relationships Sylvia poked Simon with her finger. She was tired of Simon always taking the remote control from her. Simon poked his little sister back.

What describes Sylvia and Simon’s relationship?

Sylvia poked Simon with her finger. She was tired of Simon always taking the remote control from her. Simon poked his little sister back.

Sylvia is upset at Simon.Simon is upset at Sylvia.

Simon and Sylvia are not getting along.

Sylvia and Simon are brother and sister.

How does the character act?It is really important to know why a character does something.

Character’s actions are sometimes caused by how they feel.

Why did he do that? Brody was so mad he kicked his basketball across the yard.

Why did Brody kick his basketball?

Mr. Rodriguez hugged his son because he was so proud of him.

Why did Mr. Rodriguez hug his son?

Sean made a perfect score on his math test, and he could not stop smiling.

Why was Sean smiling?

What does the character think or say?

When characters are talking in a story, it is important to read their conversation carefully. Authors will often share a characters’ thoughts during a story too.

These thoughts and dialogue help the reader

find out more about the character.

What do you know now? Beatrice and her friend were walking home from school. Beatrice said, “I wish I could just go to dance class instead of doing my homework. All I want to do is dance.”

What did you learn about Beatrice?

Beatrice and her friend were walking home from school. Beatrice said, “I wish I could just go to dance class instead of doing my homework. All I want to do is dance.”

Inside the quotation marks, Beatrice tells her friend how much she really enjoys dancing.

What do you know now? Jessie opened her birthday present from her aunt. She smiled and thanked her aunt. But inside she felt disappointed. Did anyone buy me new skates? she wondered.

What did you learn about Jessie?

Jessie opened her birthday present from her aunt. She smiled and thanked her aunt. But inside she felt disappointed. Did anyone buy me new skates? she wondered.

Jessie is upset because she wants skates for her birthday. Even though she thanks her aunt, she thinks about how much she wants skates.

How does the character change?

Sometimes characters go through a change in a story. Characters may learn a lesson or change their way of thinking. This can change how the main character acts.

Shrika was very afraid of her next door neighbor Mr. Potla. One day, Shrika saw Mr. Potla walking outside to his mailbox when he tripped and fell. Even though Shrika was afraid, she ran over to help Mr. Potla. Mr. Potla smiled at Shrika and thanked her for helping him. He said, “You are a very nice little girl for helping an old man like me.” Mr. Potla smiled at Shrika, and Shrika was not afraid anymore.

How did Shrika’s character change?

Shrika was very afraid of her next door neighbor Mr. Potla. One day, Shrika saw Mr. Potla walking outside to his mailbox when he tripped and fell. Even though Shrika was afraid, she ran over to help Mr. Potla. Mr. Potla smiled at Shrika and thanked her for helping him. He said, “You are a very nice little girl for helping an old man like me.” Mr. Potla smiled at Shrika, and Shrika was not afraid anymore.

Shrika realizes that Mr. Potla is not so scary after all. She is not afraid of him anymore.