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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. Gus the goat loved to climb. He climbed rocks, hills and even the farmer's shed! What does Gus love to do? (climb / swim / sing / sleep) → climbPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. 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 forest / in a city) → under the seaPrompt: What does the character say and do?
  3. Bear yawned and stretched. "Time to sleep until spring," he said, and curled up in his cave. Who is the main character? (a bird / Spring / the cave / Bear) → BearPrompt: 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. Even though she was scared of heights, Mei climbed the ladder to rescue the kitten from the roof. Which word best describes Mei? (selfish / careless / lazy / brave) → bravePrompt: What does the character say and do?
  2. 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? (lazy / curious / unkind / bored) → curiousPrompt: 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? (lazy / unkind / bored / curious) → curiousPrompt: 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

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Character traits and motives

Name

Date

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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 1

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

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

The Last Lap

Ruby had trained for the school relay every morning since September, running laps of the park while her breath made clouds in the cold air. She was the fastest in her class, and everyone expected her team to win. On the day of the race, the team's second runner, Theo, tripped on the bend and dropped the baton. By the time he scrambled up, two teams were far ahead. Ruby, waiting for the last leg, felt her heart sink. When the baton finally reached her, she ran harder than she ever had. She passed one runner. The finish line rushed towards her. The crowd was roaring. Then, a metre from the tape, the leader dipped her shoulder and won by a hand's width. Theo couldn't look at anyone. Ruby walked over, still panting, and held out the silver ribbon. "Second place," she said, "and that comeback was the best part of the whole race." Later, the team hung the ribbon on the classroom wall, right next to the first-place trophy from the year before. Somehow it seemed brighter.

  1. Question 2

    Read "The Last Lap". What does Ruby's action in paragraph 4 show about her?

    • A. She only cares about winning.
    • B. She is angry with Theo.
    • C. She wants to leave the team.
    • D. She is generous and puts her teammate's feelings first.

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 3

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

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

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 4

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

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

  1. Question 5

    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?

    • A. unkind
    • B. bored
    • C. lazy
    • D. curious

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 6

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

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

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Answer key: Character traits and motives

  1. 1. B. He went from seeing the rule as a punishment to looking forward to lunch.

  2. 2. D. She is generous and puts her teammate's feelings first.

  3. 3. D. She has learned her master's method of listening before drawing.

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

  5. 5. D. curious

  6. 6. A. patient