Deep Thinking About Characters in Third Grade

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson was the first mentor book read aloud with third grade students during reading workshop. Each students had a copy of the book in hand as they listened carefully to the story while following along in their own text. Students thought about the feelings and traits of the main character, discussing their ideas with a partner and with the whole group. We also talked about the main idea or theme of the book.

In the book, Chloe is unkind to a new girl in the class , Maya, who arrives wearing clothes and shoes that look worn out. Despite Maya's attempts to become friends, Chloe and her friends reject her based on her appearance. On a day when Maya is absent, the teacher presents a lesson about kindness. Chloe is changed when she hears from her teacher, "This is what kindness does. Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world."

Chloe reflects on this and decides to show Maya kindness the next time she sees her. Unfortunately Chloe does not return to school, her family moves away. At the end of the book the reader finds Chloe thinking,  "I watched the water ripple as the sun set through the maples and the chance of a kindness with Maya becoming more and more forever gone."

Third graders are finding that books this year contain big, complex ideas that lend themselves to deep thinking. The chapter books Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by our October visiting author,  Angela Dominguez and The Carver Chronicles: The New Kid by Karen English are the current mentor books in third grade. Students are applying the strategies learned during the reading of these books to their own reading.