Book Character Day - Fun and Educational!

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 Mazuur of Common Core and So Much More graciously let me use this picture of her when she was dressed up as Camilla from a Bad Case of Stripes. Your students will love it if you dress up, too!

Book Character Day Freebie

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. I know it's not even October yet, but this activity does take a bit of planning. I wanted to share the materials now so you could start thinking about the best way to host your event. The packet includes a letter you can use as a guideline for your own correspondence with parents. It also includes suggestions for activities dealing with character traits and a blank rubric you can use for evaluation purposes. As you can tell from this list of resources, Book Character Day can be hosted any time of the year and not just in October.

Where to Find this Freebie
This Book Character Day packet is a freebie for my email newsletter subscribers. It's just one of over 75 freebies you can download from Teaching Resources after you sign up. If you are already a subscriber, look for a link to Laura's Best Freebies in a recent newsletter.

Do you have a principal who expects you to cite the Common Core Standards for every activity? Not a problem for upper elementary classrooms because the CCSS are right in the back of the packet. These activities are aligned with the standards that address character traits in grades 3, 4, and 5.

Book Character Parade
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!