Being Frank

4th Grade Teachers… where you at?! Katie and I just got finished with our very first 4th grade book unit! Actually, it is aligned with 3rd and 4th grade TEKS/CommonCore! Being Frank is a book about a boy who is just a little too frank… your kids will love it! All of the info for the unit is in the description and preview 🙂

Grab the unit here
Grab the book here

If you haven’t read Being Frank, you must find it! It is so unbelievably clever and hilarious. Our favorite kinds of books are ones that have some hidden humor that allow adults to have a little chuckle too!

Frank is SUCH a memorable character that he naturally lends himself to working on Character Traits. For the focus, students work on examining characters by looking at their thoughts, words, and actions. When we look at a character’s thoughts, words, and actions we can identify different character traits that describe them. Students are not only learning how to talk about a character, but they are providing text evidence to do so.

We know that students are not going to automatically know how to identify character traits and provide text evidence. So, what Katie and I have done is allow you several different baby steps for learning how to analyze characters. We use this AMAZING short film (5 mins) Soar to help us out. Describing characters with their traits and emotions is a great way to start learning how to analyze characters.

Once we have identified traits and emotions, we get a little more specific. That’s when we look at all of the things that Frank says, thinks, and does.

And lastly we ask the kids to flip what they have learned and apply it to themselves.  They come up with a name for themselves- just like you see with the characters in Being Frank.

And that’s just part of the comprehension component of the unit! We also dig into vocabulary and grammar. You’ll have everything you need for a week of language arts! I hope you enjoy reading Being Frank with your class this year.

Grab the unit here
Grab the book here