We completed our final Character Trait Book Basket of the school year! We didn’t get to all the character traits I was hoping to, but we will probably continue again in the fall.
To quickly recap: every few weeks I would gather a bunch of books and put them into a basket all based around one character trait. We would read through all of them together over time, and at the end pick our favorites. My daughter then completed a journal page where she drew a picture and wrote about her favorite book. Then we would move on to the next character trait basket of books.
You can find all the book lists to the character traits we did complete at these links:
–Responsibility, Patience, Loyalty
This past month we read picture books all about the traits of HONESTY and COURAGE and discussed what it means to be honest and to have courage in everyday life.
Here is a list of books we read:
HONESTY:
- Betty Bunny Didn’t Do It by Michael B Kaplan
- Honest Ashley by Virginia L. Kroll
- Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie by Laura Rankin
- Eli’s Lie-O-Meter: A Story About Telling the Truth by Sandra Levins
- Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra
- Sam Tells Stories by Thierry Robberecht
- Harriet and the Garden by Nancy Carlson
- Lying Up a Storm by Julia Cook
- The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot by Scott Magoon
- Max and the Big Fat Lie by Michael P. Waite
Our favorite books about honesty were Betty Bunny Didn’t Do It by Michael B. Kaplan, The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot by Scott Magoon, Lying Up a Storm by Julia Cook, and Max and the Big Fat Lie by Michael P. Waite.
COURAGE:
- Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes
- When You Are Brave by Pat Zietlow Miller
- Brave Irene by William Steig
- Courage by Bernard Waber
- Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
- Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges
- Flight School by Lita Judge
- Amandina by Sergio Ruzzier
- Drum Girl Dream by Margarita Engle
- The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
- Spaghetti In A Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
- The Dark by Lemony Snicket
- The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright
- Max the Brave by Ed Vere
Our favorite books about courage were Flight School by Lita Judge, Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, Courage by Bernard Waber, and The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson.
This month I also grabbed some of these cute little books by Dan Carr to focus and work on some behaviors in our home. We own God I Need To Talk To You About My Bad Temper, Whining, Lying, Talking Back, and Paying Attention. There are many different ones to choose from or you can buy the whole set of 24 HERE. If there is only a few you are interested in you can get them for only $1.19 each at Christianbook.com!!
These books have simple text and illustrations to help children think and pray about certain behaviors they encounter in daily life. The books show that all sinful behaviors are forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and to encourage children to go to God in prayer any time they feel tempted or troubled. It also gives scripture examples to help children apply it to their lives.
Any time we have a problem with one of these behaviors we can pull the little book out and talk about how to deal with these emotions with God by our side.
I hope these books help my children to lean towards God and prayer about everything, even their temptations and sins. He promises to always listen.
We have really enjoyed our time together reading lots of great picture books and talking about the stories and character traits within them. My daughter now has a bunch of journal pages to look back on from all our favorite books on the character traits we have learned about this past year. We hope to continue reading more great books this summer!
