Females in the Spotlight: Strong Characters in Picture Books

Materials and Technology

Student Interactives

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

• Computers with Internet access and printing capability
  
  
• LCD projector
  
  
• The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie de Paola (Putnam, 1983)
  
  
• Copies of five or more picture books chosen from the Suggested Books list or from You Go, Girl! Picture Books With Strong Female Characters

back to top

 

STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   3 – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Trading Card Creator

This tool provides a fun and useful way to explore a variety of topics such as a character in a book, a person or place from history, or even a physical object. An excellent tool to for summarizing or as a prewriting exercise for original stories.

 

back to top

 

PRINTOUTS

• Suggested Books
  
  
• Character Trading Card Rubric
  
  
• Sample Character Trading Card for The Legend of the Bluebonnet

back to top

 

WEBSITES

• You Go, Girl! Picture Books With Strong Female Characters

back to top

 

PREPARATION

1.	Obtain and familiarize yourself with The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie de Paola, and practice reading it aloud. Be prepared to model the process of identifying and describing the character traits of the protagonist.
2.	Using the Suggested Books list and the online list You Go, Girl! Picture Books With Strong Female Characters, choose several picture books for students to read independently. Decide how many small groups you will have for the project and select one title for each group. If possible, obtain enough copies for each student in the group to have an individual copy of the book. This will help students stay focused and on task during the lesson.
3.	Prepare and duplicate a list of vocabulary words that students might use in character descriptions. Examples include courageous, valiant, and audacious. Choose additional examples from the books you have selected for this lesson.
4.	Make a copy for each student of the Sample Character Trading Card for The Legend of the Bluebonnet.
5.	Visit the ReadWriteThink.org Character Trading Cards tool and practice creating a trading card. Make sure the site functions correctly on the computers students will be using, and bookmark the site for easy access.

back to top