Is there a school district anywhere that still allows traditional Halloween activities? Most elementary students love to dress up on Halloween, but many schools no longer allow Halloween parties and activities. However, there’s fun and educational way to sneak in a dress-up activity if you can get it approved! Host a Book Character Day!
Your students can dress up as their favorite book characters and take part in activities to explore character traits. If Book Character Day happens to end up on October 31st, so much the better! The event includes activities based on character development skills and concepts that are aligned with Common Core Standards RL 3.3, RL 4.3, and RL 5.3.
If you are really adventurous, you can dress up, too! Unfortunately, I didn’t have a picture of myself from our Book Character Day to share. So Melissa Mazur of Learning Lab Resources graciously let me use the picture above which was taken the day she dressed up as Camilla from a Bad Case of Stripes. Your students will love it if you dress up, too!
Book Character Day was a hit with my students, so I put together a free packet of materials to help other teachers get started with this event. This activity does take a bit of planning, so the sooner you get started, the better. If it’s too late for you to host your Book Character Day in October, don’t worry. You could easily host this later in the year as a literacy activity.
My Book Character Day packet includes a sample parent letter, along with suggestions for activities dealing with character traits and an evaluation rubric. Are you expected to cite the Common Core Standards for every activity? Not a problem if you teach 3rd through 5th grade because the standards are listed in the back of the packet.
Book Character Day is available in my TpT store during October. If you can’t find it there, you can’t find it on my freebies page for subscribers. Click the Freebie link at the top of this page, sign up for my emails, and follow the links in the welcome message to Laura’s Best Freebies.
Another activity that would work well with Book Character Day is a Book Character Parade. Here’s a snapshot that Barbara Gruener of the Corner on Character shared with me from a Book Character Day that was held at her school. You can tell how much this young man is enjoying the chance to portray a book character from that adorable grin!
Have your students ever participated in book character activities like these? If so, please share your ideas with us in a comment on this post!
