Back to the lesson plan builder
Lesson length30 min45 min60 min
Questions🔀 New questions

Print the plan for yourself; the student sheet prints on its own page after it.

English lesson plan · 4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 30 minutes

Character traits and motives

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.4.3England: Y4/5 ReadingEngland: KS2 SATs ReadingEngland: 11+ English

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Character traits and motives.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Characters and setting

Leads to: How characters change

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Characters and setting). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Under the sea, a little fish named Flo swam past the coral. Where does this story take place? (on a farm / under the sea / in a city / in a forest) → under the seaPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. Rex the dog hid under the table every time it thundered. How does Rex feel about thunder? (happy / brave / bored / scared) → scaredPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  3. Gus the goat loved to climb. He climbed rocks, hills and even the farmer's shed! What does Gus love to do? (swim / sleep / climb / sing) → climbPrompt: What does the character say and do?

Hook · 3 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Character traits and motives. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: "I'm the fastest runner in the whole school," Kyle said for the tenth time that day. "Nobody can beat me." Which word best describes Kyle?
  • Step 1: A character's words and actions reveal what they are like and what they want.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: boastful
  • Answer: boastful
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Lena kept asking questions: Why is the sky blue? How do birds know where to fly? What is inside the Earth? Which word best describes Lena? (curious / bored / lazy / unkind) → curiousPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. Even though she was scared of heights, Mei climbed the ladder to rescue the kitten from the roof. Which word best describes Mei? (careless / brave / lazy / selfish) → bravePrompt: What does the character say and do?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Lena kept asking questions: Why is the sky blue? How do birds know where to fly? What is inside the Earth? Which word best describes Lena? (bored / curious / lazy / unkind) → curiousPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. "I'm the fastest runner in the whole school," Kyle said for the tenth time that day. "Nobody can beat me." Which word best describes Kyle? (modest / kind / nervous / boastful) → boastfulPrompt: What does the character say and do?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Characters and setting.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: How characters change.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

eurekami

Character traits and motives

Name

Date

Score/ 6

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

The storm had been building all afternoon. By the time the sun set, waves as tall as houses were hurling themselves against the rocks below Gull Point Lighthouse, and the wind screamed around the tower like a wild animal. Nell pressed her face to the window of the little cottage. Her father had rowed to the mainland that morning to fetch the doctor for Mrs Penrose, and the sea had turned before he could return. Now, for the first time in her twelve years, Nell was alone at the lighthouse. She knew what that meant. Every night at dusk, the great lamp at the top of the tower had to be lit. Without it, ships would have no warning of the rocks. Nell grabbed the lantern and her father's oilskin coat, which hung down past her knees, and pushed open the door. The wind nearly knocked her flat. Bent double, she stumbled across the yard and into the tower. There were one hundred and twelve steps to the top. Nell had climbed them hundreds of times, but never in the dark, never with the whole tower trembling. Halfway up, her lantern flickered and almost went out. She stopped, cupped her hand around the flame and whispered, "Not now. Please, not now." At the top, her fingers were numb with cold. She trimmed the wick the way her father had shown her, filled the oil and struck a match. Nothing. A second match. Nothing. With the third, a tiny flame caught, grew and then blazed, and the great lens began to turn, sweeping its beam across the furious sea. Far out in the darkness, a ship's horn sounded twice. Nell did not know whose ship it was. But she knew that, tonight, it would find its way home.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". Which word best describes Nell?

    • A. lazy
    • B. careless
    • C. courageous
    • D. selfish

The Drone at the Marsh (a play)

CAST: NIA, a young volunteer · AMIR, her older cousin · MRS HOLT, the nature reserve warden SCENE: A wooden bird hide at the edge of a marsh. Early morning. (NIA peers through binoculars. AMIR carries a small drone and a controller.) AMIR: (cheerfully) Watch this, Nia. I'll fly it over the reeds and film the whole marsh. NIA: (lowering the binoculars) Wait! The terns are nesting out there. AMIR: It's only a little drone. They won't even notice. (MRS HOLT enters, holding a clipboard.) MRS HOLT: Morning, both. Is that a drone? AMIR: (proudly) It has a 4K camera. MRS HOLT: (gently) Birds may think a drone is a hawk. If the parents fly off their nests, the eggs can get cold. NIA: So filming them could hurt them. (AMIR looks at the drone, then at the marsh. A pause.) AMIR: (quietly) I didn't know that. Could I film the car park instead, and show people where the hide is? MRS HOLT: (smiling) That would be very helpful.

  1. Question 2

    Read "The Drone at the Marsh (a play)". How does Amir change during the scene?

    • A. He stays exactly the same.
    • B. He decides to film the nests anyway.
    • C. He becomes angry with Mrs Holt.
    • D. He goes from wanting to show off his drone to thinking about the birds.

The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment

For one month, students at Brookfield School tried something unusual: no phones at lunch. Phones stayed in lockers from twelve until one, and the dining hall filled with board games, sketchbooks and a lot more noise. The idea came from the student council. In a survey, 61 per cent of students said they spent most of lunch looking at a screen, and many said they wanted a break but found it hard to stop on their own. At first, not everyone was happy. "I thought it was a punishment," admitted Jaden, 12. "But after a week I'd learned to play chess, and now I actually look forward to lunch." Teachers noticed changes too. Ms Ortega, who supervises the hall, said there were fewer arguments and more students sitting in mixed groups. However, some students said they missed messaging family members during the day. The council will now vote on whether to keep the rule. One suggestion is a compromise: phone-free Mondays to Thursdays, with Fridays left free.

  1. Question 3

    Read "The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment". How did Jaden's attitude change?

    • A. He became angrier each week.
    • B. He stopped coming to lunch.
    • C. He never noticed the rule.
    • D. He went from seeing the rule as a punishment to looking forward to lunch.

Pepper's First Week: A Diary

Saturday. Today we collected Pepper from the rescue centre. She is a skinny brown dog with one floppy ear and one ear that stands straight up. In the car, she shook the whole way home, and I held her blanket so she could smell it. I felt nervous too. Sunday. Pepper hid behind the sofa all day. Mum says rescue dogs sometimes need time to trust people because they do not know what is going to happen next. I lay on the floor and read my comic out loud so she could get used to my voice. Tuesday. A breakthrough! When I got back from school, Pepper crept out and sniffed my shoes. Then she licked my hand. I stayed completely still, although I wanted to cheer. Thursday. We went to the park on her lead. A bicycle rang its bell, and Pepper jumped behind my legs. I knelt down and talked to her calmly until her tail started wagging again. Friday. Tonight Pepper fell asleep with her head on my foot. I didn't move for an hour, even though my foot went numb. I think she has decided she lives here now.

  1. Question 4

    Read "Pepper's First Week: A Diary". Which word best describes the writer?

    • A. impatient
    • B. bossy
    • C. patient
    • D. careless

  1. Question 5

    Ama saved her pocket money for months, then spent it all on a present for her sick grandmother. Which word best describes Ama?

    • A. impatient
    • B. mean
    • C. generous
    • D. boastful

The Mapmaker's Apprentice

Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see." So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen. One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life. Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide. Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen. When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.

  1. Question 6

    Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". What does Ines's way of questioning the fisherman show?

    • A. She is impatient to finish quickly.
    • B. She has learned her master's method of listening before drawing.
    • C. She wants to become a fisherman.
    • D. She does not trust the fisherman.

Free from eurekami.com

for the adult only

Answer key: Character traits and motives

  1. 1. C. courageous

  2. 2. D. He goes from wanting to show off his drone to thinking about the birds.

  3. 3. D. He went from seeing the rule as a punishment to looking forward to lunch.

  4. 4. C. patient

  5. 5. C. generous

  6. 6. B. She has learned her master's method of listening before drawing.