Lesson #

____ of Grade Level: 5th

_____
Students will be able to use evidence from a text to make inferences about
Central
Focus character traits.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1Locate and refer to relevant details and

Standard evidence when explaining what a text says explicitly/implicitly and make
logical inferences.

Students will be able to make inferences about character traits by using

Learning
Objective
the F.A.S.T. strategy, which stands for Feelings, Actions, Saying, and
Thoughts.

● Smartboard
● Character Traits Worksheet
● Character Traits Graphic Organizer
Materials ● Mini anchor chart
● Youtube Video: “Pixar - For The Birds | Original Movie from
Pixar”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTrIcn4rjg&list=PLd2b_Anb
GsHrQlrWTneD-XaNENoZ4f6l2 3:25

The purpose of learning about inferencing is to help students examine

characters and their growth as they are reading so that they can use
Purpose
context clues and refer back to the text when not all stories spell out a
character’s traits.
 Introduction:
Begin by stating the objective which is “Today we will use evidence
from a text to make inferences about character traits.”

Ask and select students: “By a show of hands how many of you have
loved and or related to a character in a book?” “What did you like about
the character?”

Tell students that as we become better readers an important strategy to

learn is determining character traits.”

Tell students that many times, authors will not directly tell the audience
everything in the text, our job as readers is to draw a conclusion or make
inferences about the character's traits.

Show students video (No words) “Pixar - For The Birds | Original Movie
from Pixar”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTrIcn4rjg&list=PLd2b_AnbGsHr
QlrWTneD-XaNENoZ4f6l2 3:25

Instruct students that as they are watching the video pay close attention
to how the small birds treat the other Big bird.

Ask the students, “What are some words we can use to describe the
small birds?” Ask students to explain their answer.

Instructio
n
Mini Lesson: Tell students that they will be focusing on using evidence
from a text to make inferences about character traits.

- Explain what physical and character traits are and how they are
different.
 - Review what is an inference and explain to students the purpose
of making inferences.

Physical Traits: are external characteristics that we can see such as

having green eyes, brown hair, smiling, or wearing a green shirt.

Character Traits: are descriptive words used to describe the qualities of

a person. Unlike physical traits, they are internal characteristics. There
are both negative & positive Traits seen in any character or person.

An inference is an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and

reasoning. Inferencing is making an educated guess, a choice, a decision.

Authors may not tell everything in a text, sometimes you have to make
inferences to fill in the holes.

Explain to students that:

Text Evidence + Background Knowledge

= Character understanding
Tell students that by looking back at the text, using their background
knowledge, and looking for context clues, they are able to make
inferences about a character’s trait(s).
Tell students that a way in which we can make inferences about character
traits is by examining a character's feelings, actions, sayings and
thoughts.
A way in which they can remember is by using the strategy: F.A.S.T

“Let’s go through what F.A.S.T stands for”

Feelings ex: annoyed

Actions ex: Brandon glanced at his math homework and sighed
Saying ex: “I wish I was playing my video games instead of doing my
math homework”
Thoughts ex: “I should just write any answer and quickly scribble some
random numbers on the line, so that I can play my video game.”
- Remind students to ask themselves:
How does the character feel?
What does the character do?
What does the character say?
What does the character think?

Let's Look at an example:

Sean was getting frustrated with the science project. Every time he
thought he had solved the problem, another issue came up. He didn’t
give up and continued the process of trial and error late into the evening
until he had the perfect model rocket ship.What is the character trait that
best describes Sean?

Think F.A.S.T!
“Let’s begin by filling out the first part which is how the character feels”
Feelings: How does Sean feel? Sean feels frustrated
Actions: What does Sean do? Sean didn’t give up and continued the
process of trial and error late into the evening until he had the perfect
model rocket ship.
Saying: What does Sean say? We don’t know what Sean says from
reading the passage. But we can infer that he might say something like
“I will finish my science project even if it takes me all night.”
*Remind students that we don’t always know every detail of the text, but
we can make inferences to determine the answer.*
Thoughts: What does Sean think? Sean thought every time he solved
the problem, another issue came up

Based on the text details, I can infer that Sean is Determined

Guided Practice 1: “Lets look an an example together”

Kevin raced down the hallway. Passing his friend Andrew, he reached up
and knocked his cap off his head. “Kevin!” Andrew shouted. “I hate it
when you do That!” Kevin laughed and darted around the corner, his
backpack bouncing on his back. He passed a group of girls walking
toward the library. “Nerds!” he shouted as he ran out the door to the
playground. What is the character trait that best describes kevin?

Think F.A.S.T!
“Let’s begin by filling out the first part which is how the character feels”
Feelings: How does Kevin feel?
*Remind students that we don’t always know every detail of the text, but
we can make inferences to determine the answer.*
We don’t know how Kevin feels from reading the passage. But we can
infer that he might feel careless
Actions: What does Kevin do? Kevin races down the halls, he knocked
down Andrew’s hat before, he laughs,and he shouts
Saying: What does Kevin say? Kevin calls a group of girls “Nerds”
Thoughts: What does Kevin think? Kevin thinks he can break the rules
and tease people.

Based on the text details, we can infer that Kevin is a Bully

Ask Students:
- What other character traits can we use to describe Kevin?
- How did Kevin's character trait affect the other characters in the
passage?
Guided Practice 2: Students will be asked to turn and talk to read and
discuss the following passage:

Lisa got $20.00 for her birthday to spend however she wanted to. She
thought she and her friend could go out. She decided to invite her best
friend Alex to go to the movies with her. Lisa says, “I would love it if we
could go out.” Alex said she couldn't afford to go to the movies, so Lisa
offered to pay for her ticket. What is the character trait that best
describes Lisa?

Once they finish, select a student to share out and demonstrate what
character trait best describes Lisa and explain their answer.

Think F.A.S.T!
“Let’s begin by filling out the first part which is how the character feels”
Feelings: How does Lisa feel?
*Remind students that we don’t always know every detail of the text, but
we can make inferences to determine the answer.*
We don’t know how Lisa feels from reading the passage. But we can
infer that she might feel delighted to help her friend
Actions: What does Lisa do? Lisa offers to use her money to pay for her
bestfriends ticket.
Saying: What does Lisa say? “I would love it if we could go out.”
Thoughts: What does Lisa think? Lisa thought that her and her best
friend Alex can go out

Based on the text details, we can infer that Lisa is ________________

What other character traits can we use to describe Lisa?
How is Lisa's character trait different from Kevin’s character trait?

Anticipated difficulties: Some anticipated difficulties in this lesson

might include not showing enough evidence from the text to support
their inferences. In addition, students might confuse feelings with
character traits. To help students get a better understanding, put up the
anchor chart on the SmartBoard.
 Students will work independently to complete a Character Traits
Worksheet in which they will read 4 passages and make inferences about
Learning what character trait is being described. Along with that, they will be
Task given a graphic organizer in which they must fill three columns with the
character's name, the trait that best describes the character, and the
evidence used to back up their inferences.
Once they have finished, go over the worksheet as a class. Select a few
students to share out what they wrote and explain how they used evidence from
Closing / the passages to support their answers. Remind students that by F.A.S.T we
Debrief can make inferences about character traits by examining a character's feelings,
actions, sayings and thoughts.

1. Turn-and-Talk: What is the character trait that best describes

Lisa?
Assessments 2. Students will read and complete the Character Traits Worksheet
3. Students will fill in their graphic organizers

For ELLs and struggling students who need support, provide them
with mini anchor charts on their desks.
Differentiation
For excelling students, provide them with an extra question in which
they can choose a particular character trait and write a paragraph
describing someone who exhibits that trait.

Academic
Character traits
Language
Inference