Sticky Note Project

What You Need:

• A good book to curl up with
• Piece of paper
• Large sticky Notes
• Pencil
• Large piece of paper or poster board
• Crayons, colored pencils, or utensils of your child's choosing

What You Do:

1. Begin a general discussion about character traits by asking your child to describe a person of their choosing. Have your child write the description down. Ask your child: How do they know these things about this person? If your child only points out visual descriptions, explain that they can also describe what the person does, what they think, what they say, and (often more important!) how they say it.
2. Look at the character traits they've written down and go over them with your child, identifying whether the traits were physical descriptions, actions, or memories of things that person said or did.
3. Explain to your child that they can also learn things about the characters in the stories they read by noticing physical descriptions of the characters, their actions, their conversations with other characters, and their personal thoughts. Have your child begin reading the story. Early on in the story, have them pick one of the characters. While they read, ask them to place a sticky note on every page that reveals something about the character. On the sticky note, ask your child to write down the character trait that is revealed on that page. By the end of the story, your child will have accumulated numerous words, thoughts, and actions with which to assemble a complete description of one of the characters in the story.
4. Conclude the exercise with a fun art project: Using what your child already knows about the character from their sticky notes, encourage them to think about what the character might do or say right after the book ends. Then, border a large piece of paper with the sticky notes, and inside draw a picture of that new scene using whatever utensils your child selects.