Begin by asking students to think about their best friend and how they know this person is a good friend (could be a classmate, teacher, or relative). Elicit how a person's actions, thoughts, words, and feelings can show that someone is a good friend. Write these words on the word map. Ask students what the people in books they have read are called to get the response "character". Write "character" at the center of the web. Continue the discussion to record words to describe someone's actions, words, and feelings. Students should notice that some words appear on more than one section of the word web. Point out that feelings can effect words and actions and cause certain feelings in someone else, and so on.

Next, have each student design a web for someone they know following the one just created, selecting words from the class map to use on their own. Encourage students to share their webs at the end. Enforce the concept that characters in books may do, say, and feel the same as we do. Do this by thinking back to a book they are familiar with.

Post the modeled character web in a place in the room where the students can easily refer to it.