Having Character is ‘boo-tiful’
With Halloween right around the corner, thought we’d share some Character coloring pages for you and your kids! Click here for all of them. Thank you to Jennifer Downey who created them! This is a fun way to introduce each of the characters and the triats they represent! I actually pass these out on Halloween and attach candy to the page! I’ve had older kids come back and ask for more, true story! This makes my heart dance, truly dance! With Halloween not until the end of next month, this will give you a good opportunity to print them out and use as you see fit. We like to suggest some ways that you can use them as we’ve tried:
Print out the coloring page
Discuss what the trait means
Use as a sticker chart
Use as a journal cover
Use as story starters for your students or children
Use as word wall words describing what the trait means
Example:
Using the character Warm-Hearted Walrus. Have students share what words describe what warm hearted means; kind, nice, friendly, etc.
Take it further with a writing activity and ask your class: “Who do you know that is kind, nice, warm-hearted, etc.?” Build a class room Journal or class room Traveling Book and add each students writings. Draw a large pumpkin for display and each time a student sees or hears another student being warm-hearted, let them call that student out and have them sign their name on the pumpkin. You’ll have a bulletin board in no time!
Build off of the pumpkin idea with each character. You’ll have writing prompts and plenty of words for your word wall during the entire month. Something I did when teaching preschool was had typed out each students name in large font and had a class room list. This was on my desk along with scrap paper and pencils. When a student witnessed another student using kind words or doing something kind, they came up to my desk and shared this, then found the students name on the class list and wrote it on the paper, then placed it in the basket. At the end of the week we would read all the names of the students who were kind during the week! If a child didn’t make the basket, you can still say their name, you don’t want any tears. But, you do what you feel is appropriate.
For the older students, you can pull out a name from the basket and have the students write a sentence about that student and build a nice class room book again. If you continue making these books, when you’ve completed them, take the individual pages and put in the students file. At conference time you’ll have something to share with the parents about their child. You can do this with all the traits.
Something I did with the younger students (kindergarten) to introduce reading names was to have a large graph paper on my class easel near our reading center. Using two different colors of markers switching off for every other sentence, I would write the following:
___________________________ is kind. I had my paper bag with each students name typed out in large font and would pull out a name or ask another child to pull one out. I held it up for the children to see and when the child recognized their name they came up to get their name tag and placed it on the line. At the end we read as a class each sentence. Again, build off of this! If you haven’t heard of Guided Reading I suggest you look into it because after spending five years on the Reading Team, I promise you it is a wonderful resource and very engaging for the children! Using the same format as above, change the sentence to accommodate the character trait.
________________ has good behavior.
_________________ never gives up.
__________________ is a friend.
You get the gist of it! Now, you’re teaching the character trait, literacy and building communication skills. It was some of my favorite activities to do with the classes! I especially loved kindergarten and first grade when they are learning the basics of reading. When the light goes on, it warmed my heart! I hope some of these tips support your own teachings, if it’s a class or in your home. You’ll begin to hear children speaking of their peers or siblings using these character traits as they become much more aware of the meaning of each one.
TELL me and I forget, TEACH me and I remember, INVOLVE me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin
Our Mindful Monday blog has some ideas to implement and teach the traits with a positive mindset. Our newsletter provides great content monthly with a free print out for you to use! You can learn more about us here.