Characters in Words and Pictures - Year 3

Help Year 3 readers explain how words and illustrations portray a character and how settings and events shape a story’s mood. This five-lesson week moves from noticing an actual clue to making and testing an interpretation. Students compare what each mode adds, check a clearly labelled artist’s draft against the words, and distinguish one character’s feeling from the atmosphere of the scene.

The stories use familiar school, fair and library contexts. Mara gives time and a map to a visitor; Dani brings a hidden drum into the open; Imran and Pip repair a cardboard robot; Eve and Kian make room for two display pieces. The unseen Spare Lantern story assesses transfer with words and two meaningful frames. No copyrighted book purchase or audio file is needed.

Explicit modelling, guided discussion, independent practice, support extracts, extension prompts and formative decisions are included in five approximately 55-minute lessons. Evidence Jury asks students to find verbal and visual clues, hear another idea, and support or revise a claim. It is cooperative, with no points or winner. Trait claims are based on choices rather than appearance; open interpretations earn credit when the evidence fits.

Table of Contents:

Presentation: Characters in Words and Pictures

Teacher quick-start

Five complete lesson plans and teacher guidance

Words, Pictures, My Idea display

A Picture Can Add a Clue display

Mara and the Missing Map

Words, Pictures, My Idea worksheet and sample answers

Clue or Guess? cards

The Repaired Drum

Text Says / Picture Adds partner mat

Two Kinds of Clues worksheet and sample answers

The Library Robot

Scene Change worksheet and sample answers

Viewpoint Windows

The Shared Display

Evidence Jury mat and 12 cards

Illustrator’s Decision worksheet and sample answers

The Spare Lantern

Quiz: Characters in Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures Assessment and sample answers

Character Evidence Rubric

What's included

• 38-page Unit Plan PDF: a contents page, teacher quick-start, ten pages of complete lesson plans/teacher guidance and 26 original resource pages.
• Editable 20-slide teaching presentation and editable 22-slide quiz (ten questions, each followed by an answer/explanation, plus cover and closing slides).
• Five complete original illustrated stories: Mara and the Missing Map, The Repaired Drum, The Library Robot, The Shared Display and the fresh assessment story The Spare Lantern.
• Two colour teaching displays; eight Clue or Guess? cards; Text Says / Picture Adds partner mat; four Viewpoint Windows; Evidence Jury discussion mat and 12 cooperative interpretation cards.
• Five black-and-white response sheets, each immediately followed by a matching red sample-answer page; a four-dimension, three-level rubric.
• 12-point assessment scoring guidance and a separate 8-point analytic profile. Supported alternatives and oral/pointing/annotation/scribed responses are accepted; art and handwriting are not graded.
• Clean Table of Contents JPEG and an 80-page watermarked Preview PDF combining the unit plan and both full decks.

Learning focus

Support a plausible character interpretation with a phrase and a visible detail. Explain additional information from each mode and identify a labelled draft mismatch. Judge/revise claims using evidence. Explain a setting/event effect on mood while allowing one character to feel differently.

Classroom use

Five approximately 55-minute sessions, with explicit teacher models, guided pairs, independent transfer, support extracts, extension and exit checks. Familiar fictional contexts; no private personal disclosures or purchased text. Read-aloud, pointing, annotation, oral response and adult scribing preserve the assessment criteria.

Formats and answers

Unit Plan PDF: 38 pages. Presentation PPTX: 20 slides. Quiz PPTX: 22 slides. Preview PDF: 80 pages, watermarked except its clean first contents page; appended decks retain widescreen geometry. Five matching red sample-answer pages, black quiz answers and teacher assessment marking guidance are included. Stories and worksheets are supplied as PDF pages; the teaching presentation and quiz use editable text in PPTX.

Teacher benefits

Original complete text/visual bank; clear modelling and practice; justified alternative readings; one concise quick-start; aligned fresh assessment; low-ink student practice; native editable teaching text.

Digital product and licence

Instant digital teaching resource; no physical delivery. PDF/PPTX-compatible software required. Single teacher/classroom use. Do not resell or publicly redistribute. No external book or audio dependency.

Formats, page counts and answers

Unit Plan PDF: 38 pages. Presentation PPTX: 20 slides. Quiz PPTX: 22 slides. Preview PDF: 80 pages, watermarked except its clean first contents page; appended decks retain widescreen geometry. Five matching red sample-answer pages, black quiz answers and teacher assessment marking guidance are included. Stories and worksheets are supplied as PDF pages; the teaching presentation and quiz use editable text in PPTX.