{Oz Love}: "Over the Rainbow" Character Study

In my top five movies at any given time in my life is always Wizard of Oz. Sigh.... I just love it! Such a positive message, so many wonderful characters, and of course, I love subjecting my family to my beautiful singing voice for every.single.song-- except the "King of the Forrest" one, but I digress.... :)

Whenever I see Wizard of Oz clipart, I purchase it, if for no other reason than it makes me happy. Just looking at it and singing songs ;)

Good news- I have incorporated it into my newest unit! I wanted some quick reference posters to use for character study. My kids this year are pretty good with fiction comprehension, but the new Common Core State Standards specifically mention characters in a few of their parts, and I wanted to take my kids deeper than just test-self connections. Here are the third grade standards this packet addresses:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

And, honestly  what story has better characters than the Wizard of Oz? So, my "Over the Rainbow" Character Study was born :) Somewheeeere....

This handy-dandy packet will help you introduce and name not only types of characters, but will be a helpful reminder when it comes to thinking about traits, feelings & motivations.

There are nine posters total relating to the character study and include some complex character vocab (like protagonist and antagonist) along with kid-friendly terms (main character and opponent) and a question that will help students define each term (ex: Who is the story mostly about?).

The best part? The lovely characters from the movie are on each of the posters to help kids along.

There are three posters with definitions and examples of character traits, motivation, and feelings. I used the movie as an example for these as well.

Last, to help incorporate some of these terms and ideas in classwork, I have included two forms that I really like using when it comes to teaching characters in a story.

The first one is a character map that includes a character study during a certain event in the text and thinking about his/her feelings, motivation, and traits.

In the past, I have used this throughout a text to track how the character changes from beginning to middle to end. I have also waited until the climax of the book and had kids use the main event/turning point to fill this out.

I always start using them in small reading groups during our Daily 5 Teacher Time, but by the middle-ish of the year, kids are independent enough to complete this on their own using their individual Read to Self books.

The second worksheet is what I call the "triangle sheet"-- kids will be asked to think about an event (that they sketch and describe in the center) from the protagonist's & antagonist's perspective. They will then think about how they would have acted and if they agree or disagree with how the protagonist/antagonist dealt with the event. I LOVE this sheet because I think we are quick to always side with the main character and not think about the villain-- don't even get me started on how my world was rocked when I read Wicked! Anyways, this gets them thinking about both characters and relating to both on some level.

Those of you with an Oz-themed classroom, can I come and visit? I hope this unit can sprinkle in some of the magic from the movie (no matter what your theme) and make you happy teaching characters! Pick them up today in my TpT Store :)

I'll leave you with this funny:

:)