Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling really great about that because we are looking at such an interesting topic today.

We're thinking about reading appreciation, we're thinking about characters.

There is so much to love about this lesson.

Our lesson is called "Developing Reading Preferences in Year 3 Through Appreciation of Characters." I hope that sounds of interest to you.

This lesson comes from the unit of work, "Developing Reading Preferences in Year 3." So, I'm really excited to get into this.

I'm wondering, what are your reading preferences? What kind of books do you like to read? And in particular, we'll be looking at series, We'll be looking at characters.

So, let's not delay and let's get right into our lesson.

If you're ready with some focus, energy, and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can explore a range of characters in texts, describing why I like them.

I hope that sounds really interesting to you.

I can't wait to get into this.

We have some keywords in today's lesson.

I'd like us to go through them one at a time, saying them out loud.

My turn, your turn.

Series fiction, character traits, emotional arc, empathy.

Oh, love that last word in particular.

Pause here and share with someone, do you know the meanings of any of these words? Have you come across 'em before? Do you know what they mean? Share with someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

Series fiction is when there are lots of texts with the same characters.

Each one tells a new adventure or story about them.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

An emotional arc is how a character's feelings and emotions change throughout a story.

And empathy is the ability to experience and understand other people's feelings and points of view.

So, these are our keywords.

Let's be on the lookout for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about these keywords, they'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Today's lesson is called "Developing Reading Preferences in Year 3 Through Appreciation of Characters," and it has two learning cycles, exploring reading preference in series fiction, and exploring characters.

Let's begin by exploring reading preference in series fiction.

Fiction is when authors create made up stories with characters, places, and adventures which did not happen in real life.

Series fiction is when there are several books with the same characters and each text tells readers a new part of their story.

There are many different types of series fiction.

For example, the "Dogman" series, "Loki" series, "Hotel Flamingo" series, "Bad Nana" series, and "Pizazz" series.

Do you have a series that you enjoy reading? Perhaps one of these ones that we can see on the screen, or maybe a different series.

Thanks for sharing the series that you enjoy reading.

There are many benefits to reading series fiction.

What do you think some of these benefits could be? For example, the "Dave Pigeon" series.

Any ideas what could be the benefits of reading this series or indeed another series? Pause here and share with someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Let's find out what are some of the many benefits to reading serious fiction.

Building familiarity with characters and settings, improved comprehension, making connections across text, developing reading fluency as you get comfortable with an author's writing style and pacing, improved prediction skills as you get to know the characters and story patterns.

Perhaps you had some ideas like these.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Name some benefits to reading series fiction.

Pause here while you have a go at sharing some benefits to reading series fiction with someone nearby.

Let's hear some ideas.

It can improve our comprehension, making connections across texts.

It helps us develop familiarity with characters and settings.

Perhaps you had some of these ideas in mind.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to reflect on a series that you liked or a series that you might like to read.

What interests you about this series? For example, the "Rabbit & Bear" series, or there may be some other series that you would like to reflect on.

Pause here while you have a go at this task.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task? Reflecting on a series, what is it you liked about series? Let's hear from Izzy, "I love the 'Beast Quest' series.

They're all about mythology and are full of adventure." Pause here and share with someone? Do you know the "Beast Quest" series? And what do you think about this series, if you've read these books before? Thanks for sharing.

And here's Lucas, "I really enjoyed the characters in 'Leonara Bolt'.

Leonora makes some incredible inventions." Oh, that's great to hear.

Pause here and share with someone, do you know the "Leonarda Bolt" series? And if you do, how have you liked this series? Thanks for sharing.

And now share with someone nearby which series you've really enjoyed and what you found interesting about it, and see if you can come up with any things that are similar or perhaps different about your interest in series.

Thanks for sharing about your favorite series with someone nearby.

And hopefully you've now heard about a new series to go off and explore.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, exploring characters.

When we first interact with a character in a text, we can begin to notice their character traits.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what are character traits? Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps you said that character traits are the special qualities that make a character unique and interesting.

Let's stay on this topic of character traits.

Can you pause and share with someone nearby what do you think are some of your character traits? What are some traits that you have that make you unique and interesting? Or if someone was describing you, what kind of character traits might they include in their description of you? Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if you had similar or different character traits.

Readers can identify a character's traits by paying attention to how the character acts, thinks, and speaks in a story.

By observing a character's actions, thoughts, words, and how they handle challenges, we can figure out what makes that character special and interesting.

This helps us connect with the characters and understand the story better.

These are all examples of character traits.

Brave, independent, gentle, responsible, honest, patient, cautious, creative, defiant, determined, calm, observant.

Pause here and share with someone, what are some of the character traits that your favorite characters possess from this list? Do you like reading about characters who are brave or defiant or creative? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

I definitely like reading about brave, independent, creative, determined, and calm characters.

Readers should pay attention to whether these traits are consistent throughout the story.

If a character is kind in one part of the story but mean in another, it might mean they're complex or their traits are changing.

Perhaps you'd come across some of these character traits in the "Amelia Fang" series.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following could be a character trait? Choose from this selection.

~A, tall, b, friendly, c, curious, d, brave.

Pause here while you decide which of these could be a character trait.

Well done if you selected b, c, and d.

Friendly, curious, and brave are all character traits.

They are fantastic character traits.

In "Sona Sharma: Very Best Big Sister?" Sona has been told that her mother is expecting a baby.

The story begins with her feeling like she doesn't want to share her family.

Sona doesn't want things to change.

As the story develops, the reader is able to understand Sona's character traits through her actions, thoughts, words, and how she handles challenges.

At times in the book, character traits that Sona shows are that she's determined, kind, and anxious.

So, she's determined.

Sona wants to find a perfect name for her new sibling.

She's kind.

Sona helped out Paatti, her grandmother, to prepare the home.

And anxious, Sona's worried about how her family will change with the new baby.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which features can help readers identify character traits? Choose from the following selection A, a character's thoughts, b, the setting of the story, c, the character's name, d, the actions of the character.

Pause here while you decide which features can help readers identify character traits.

Well done if you selected answers a and d.

Indeed, a character's thoughts and the actions of the character are features which can help readers identify character traits.

An emotional arc is when a character's feelings and emotions change in a story or across a series of texts.

Imagine a character starting the story feeling really scared or sad, and then as the story goes on, they might become braver or happier.

It's like their heart goes on an adventure, learning new feelings and growing along the way.

It's natural for characters, just like people, to feel a wide range of emotions, and that's okay.

As readers go on these journeys with the character, they can feel empathy for them.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what the word empathy means? Thanks for sharing.

It's when we feel for another and we can understand their feelings and point of view.

It's a wonderful quality to cultivate, having empathy.

Let's have a check for understanding.

An emotional arc is, complete the sentence by choosing from a following selection.

A, how a character's feelings change as events in the story unfold, b, the way in which a character overcomes a challenge, c, a type of emotion.

Pause here while you complete the sentence.

What is an emotional arc? Well done if you selected answer a.

Indeed, an emotional arc is how a character's feelings change as events in the story unfold.

Now think of your favorite character.

Is it a character you admire? A character you love to hate? A character who taught you something? A character who makes you laugh? We're going to share our favorite characters with others by describing them and their character traits.

So, pause here while you think of your favorite character.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's look at an example from the "Knights and Bikes" series.

I like the characters Demelza and Nessa from "Knights and Bikes." Both girls are fiercely determined and brave because they don't give up easily and take actions that other people wouldn't.

For example, they come up with an audacious plan and do lots of daring stunts to achieve their goal.

I would like to be friends with them.

So, in this example, we can see we have an introduction to the character in the texts in that first sentence.

We have a list of the character traits, determined and brave, and then we have an example from the text showing us how they're determined and brave.

Let's take a look at another example from the "Stuntboy" series.

I like the character Portico Reeve from "Stuntboy, in the Meantime".

Like me, Portico lives in a high-rise apartment, however unlike me, Portico solves mysteries and stands off against his arch nemesis.

Portico is supportive to his best friend, Zola.

They're a great team and are very funny.

Portico and Zola work together to better understand a bully, Herbert, showing that they're both empathetic.

In this example, we can see an explanation of a personal connection to the text.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Order the following features to include in your character description.

Choose from the following selection, a, list of character traits, b, example from the text, c, introduction to character and text.

Pause here while you order these features to include in your character description.

Well done if you ordered them in this way.

First of all, introduction to character and text.

Next, list of character traits.

And after that, example from the text.

And now it's time for our next task.

This is it.

We are getting into describing your favorite character.

Is it a character you admire? Is it a character you love to hate? Is it a character who taught you something? Is it a character who makes you laugh? Write your ideas in full sentences.

You might begin your first sentence.

"I like the character." So, pause here while you have a go at this task of describing your favorite character.

Enjoy your task and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task of describing your favorite character? Did you include the following, an introduction to the character, name, and text, some character traits? I wonder, did you share any of the character traits with your character? And an example of how the character traits were shown.

Pause here and share with someone if you included all of these things in your character description.

Well done for having a go at this task.

In our lesson, "Developing Reading Preferences in Year 3 Through Appreciation of Characters," we've covered the following, reading series fiction has lots of benefits to readers, character traits tell readers what a character is like, they can change within a text and across the series, readers can identify character traits by focusing on a character's actions, thoughts, words, and how they respond to challenges.

Sharing our favorite characters with friends can encourage them to read other series.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was so great to get into reading preferences, appreciation of characters, exploring character traits, and even looking at what are some of our own character traits.

Remember our keyword empathy.

Let's keep our empathy alive every day.

I've really enjoyed teaching you and I hope you've enjoyed this lesson too.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.