They’re not just for little kids!

 Accessible by all reading levels  Builds the ability to infer  Allows for divergent thinking  Promotes community  Focuses on how the artist uses elements of art (Sanders, 2006)  Writing opportunities

 You betcha!  Reading is about meaning (Weaver, 2002)  Readers don’t have to concentrate on decoding  Readers’ main focus is to garner meaning from the illustrations

 Reading a wordless picture book is not as easy at it would seem!  It takes practice  It take close attention to detail  Teach your students to draw conclusions from what they see in the illustrations

 We infer all the time  Naturally  Without even thinking about it  Build from students’ strengths (background knowledge, BK)  Look for the “text” clues, TC  Combine and you get an inference, I  BK + TC=I (Harvey & Goudvis, 2005)  How Do I Make an Inference? Video (animoto.com) How Do I Make an Inference? Video

 1 + 1=2 every time in math  Not so in reading  Readers come to the plate with different experiences  Therefore, according to Rosenblatt each person’s transaction with the text will vary (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001, p.258 )  “…and that’s… okay, compliments of Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live

 After students have “read” the text on their own give them a chance to discuss the book with peers who have also “read” book  Students will share their different interpretations with group members  Each group member will gain and change their schema (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001, p.357) as they hear various takes on the same text

 Elements of Art  Line  Shape  Space  Texture  Size  Value (Sanders, 2010)  Principles of Design  Pattern  Movement  Rhythm  Balance  Contrast  Repetition  Proportion  Harmony & Unity  Variety  Composition

 Focused free writes  Readers just write whatever is on their mind in response to the text  Narrative  Put words to the story, part or all  Descriptive  Choose one illustration  Describe the illustration ▪ Extension: Hang copies of illustrations about the room ▪ Give students typewritten copies of descriptive writing ▪ Students match writing with illustrations  Dialogue  Pair students to write dialogue for characters in the story  Individuals create dialogue for the characters in the story  Students act out dialogue from the story

 Fleishchman, Paul and Hawkes, Kevin Sidewalk circus. Cambridge: Candlewick.  Geisert, Arthur Lights out. Boston: Houston Mifflin Company  Lehman, Barbara Rainstorm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.  Lehman, Barbara The red book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.  Macaulay, David Black and white. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.  Runton, Andy The way home and the bitter summer. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf.  Selznick, Brian The invention of Hugo Cabret. NY: Scholastic.  Tan, Shaun The arrival. New York: Arthur Levine.  Varon, Sarah Robot dreams. NY: Roaring Book Press.  Vincent, Gabrielle a day, a dog. Asheville, NC: Front Street.  Van Allsburg, Chris The mysteries of Harris Burdick. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.  Wiesner, David Tuesday. New York: Clarion Books.  Wiesner, David Sector 7. New York: Clarion Books.  Wiesner, David Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books.

 animoto.com  Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G. (2001). Guiding readers and writers: Grades 3-6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. pp. 258, & 357.  Harvey, S. and Goudvis, A The comprehension toolkit. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand.  Sanders, Jennifer (2010). “Class Notes for CIED verbatim.” OSU-Tulsa.  Sanders, Jennifer. (2006). “The art of picturebooks: The relationship between text and image.” The Dragon Lode. 25:1, p.3-8.  Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.