The Character of Characters – Developing Greater Understanding
From the desk of Leigh Ann...
In our kindergarten class our emergent readers are working with simple predictable texts to develop appropriate reading behaviors, extend word recognition, and increase decoding skills. These texts are perfect for our young ones as they develop fluency and the strategies they need to decode new words. The limiting factors of these books are that they do not offer much of a plot and the simple language limits the opportunity to build vocabulary. This is where we, as parents and teachers, can help develop the higher level thinking skills of our young readers by reading higher level texts to them. Reading to children is one of the most important activities we can do to increase literacy skills, broaden vocabulary, and help children acquire strategies for deeper understanding of a text. A great place to start is to examine the characters in a story.
Discuss the characters. As you meet characters in books discuss who they are. Use interesting language that describes physical traits and personalities – words that paint pictures in the reader’s mind. Developing a rich vocabulary does not just provide us with more words, but offers more vivid language that helps us see and feel what is going on in the world. This awareness of richer language helps us become better communicators as speakers, listeners, readers, and writers.
For example: Just viewing the first page of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas we can look at the frown on the Grinch’s sour face and see right away that he is a grouchy miserable character. As we begin to read right away we find that his “heart was two sizes too small” we begin to see why he looks so incredibly unhappy.
Examine the roles of the characters. The protagonist is the “good guy,” the main character. The antagonist, the bad guy, usually provides some type of challenge for the hero. It is easy to see that the Grinch is the antagonist as he sets out to stop Christmas from coming.
Discuss how the characters develop through the story. How do the characters change over time and through experiences? As the Grinch moves through his escapades we experience his change of heart and see how he decides to bring the celebration back to Who-ville.
Make connections between the text and familiar events. Encourage children to use their background knowledge – what they know about the world around them – and the information in the text to make predictions about what will happen in the story.
How would you feel if someone snuck into the house and took your things? Do you think the Whos will still feel like celebrating Christmas when they wake up to find all of their things gone?
Talk about how the problems in the text are solved.
When the Grinch hears the Whos singing he realizes that Christmas is about so much more that presents and wrappings. What does the Grinch do to fix his mistake?
When we have meaningful discussions about the characters, we model strategies for our children to use. This in turn helps them develop tools to gain greater understanding of what they read. Check out the link below to find some wonderful stories read by members of the Screen Actors’ Guild. Watch, read together, and discuss the story elements. Sharing quality time and insights about good books will strengthen our children’s desire to read and develop their depth of understanding.
http://www.storylineonline.net/