Picture Books for the Older Student

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MAGIC OF PICTURE BOOKS BUILDING BLOCKS FOR
LITERACY
Program Design for Children Sya VanGeest
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Educators today, agree that all students
benefit from opportunities to read and respond to
a wide variety of literature. Yes, contrary to
popular belief, older students can and do learn
from picture books! (Forte Schurr 1995)
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NURTURE A READERNurture a Sapling

• The child growing up in an environment brimming
  with books, magazines, and newspapers,
• - seeing and hearing a parent read,
• - owning a library card
• - that child will have far higher scores than
  will the child raised in a print vacuum.

Dr. G. Kylene Beers
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Promote Reading for Fun

• If we teach children how to read,
  but none of them want to,
  have we done our job?
  Steven
  Layne. Lifes Literacy Lessons (IRA2001)

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The Power of Reading

• Those who dont read
• have no advantage over those who cant
  Mark Twain
• If we encounter a man of rare intellect,
  
• we should ask him what books he reads.
  Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Once you learn to read
  
• You will be forever free .
  
• Frederick Douglas. Abolitionist
  Leader. (ALA poster)
• Literature is my Utopia.
• 
  Helen Keller

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What makes a great picture book ?

1. Stirs the imagination
2. Pictures enrich the text
3. Energized by strong words
4. Explores eternal verities
5. It is inviting
6. Its free from errors
7. Uses language rich in metaphor and description
8. Tells a dual story in text and pictures

1. Tells a good story
2. Its accurate in time place
3. Shapes real characters
4. It is engaging
5. Touches the heart
6. Stimulates thought
7. Its appropriate for audience
8. Its fun

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How Do We Get Children To Read?

• The literacy platforms are really pretty funny
  when you think about it. If there were one best
  way, dont you think we would have found it by
  now?
• Steven L. Layne Lifes Literacy Lessons
  (IRA2001)

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USE PICTURE BOOKS TO . . .

1. Introduce a lesson / unit
2. Teach content
3. Teach reading writing strategies/skills
4. Study point-of-view, bias
5. Explore a theme
6. Shape for ear storytelling
7. Compliment your subject
8. Stimulate critical thinking
9. Conclude a lesson / unit
10. As model for product
11. . . . .

Picture books speak to the heart!!!!
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Types of Readers, Dr. G. Kylene Beers
What type of reader are you?
School Library Journal (Jan / Feb 1996)

• The Avid Reader
• The Dormant Reader
• The Unmotivated Reader
• The Uncommitted Reader
• The Unskilled Reader

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Using Picture Books as Mental Sets for lessons
A successful introduction to a lesson , which
establishes a positive mental set, makes it far
easier to sustain learning as the lesson
unfolds. (Kyriacou 1998)
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MENTAL SET

• A Good Mental Set Should . . .
• Link to past learning/ prior knowledge
• Actively involve students
• Relate to lesson objective

Example Lesson about childrens rights -
Students, in pairs, come up with two rights they
feel all children should have. - Read A Carpet
Boys Gift by Pegi Deitz Shea. - Discuss which
of the brainstormed rights Nadeem and Amina did
not have. Is this fair?
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Using Picture Books to Explicitly Teach Reading
Comprehension Strategies
FOR EXAMPLE making connections
Text to World
Text to Text
Text to Self
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LANGUAGE ARTS

• Making Inferences

• Visualization

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LANGUAGE ARTS

• writing prompts
• literary devices
• punctuation
• main ideas
• sequencing of ideas
• elements of fiction

metaphors
alliteration
idioms
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LANGUAGE ARTS

• poetry

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CROSS CURRICULAR

• Writing a Persuasive Piece

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Character Ed - Guidance

• Asking the Big questions of Life
• Do real men cry?
• How do we honour personality traits?
• What do we do with our anger / disappointment?
• How do we deal with our fears?
• What is courage?

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The Arts Music, Visual Art, Drama Dance
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Geography
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History
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The Sciences
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Mathematicslt/gt-
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Family Studies
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First Nations Voices
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Cross Curricular

• biographies

VISIT http//www.webrary.org/kids/jbibpictbkbiog.
html
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CROSS CURRICULAR

• Storytelling Picture Books to Shape for the Ear

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Cross Curricular

• points of view and bias

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The Power and Beauty of Picture Books As a Genre
for Student Writing
Addresses all strands of Language Arts Reading,
Writing, Oral Communication Media Studies
Follow a step-by-step process See Analyzing and
Creating Picture Books (Power Point and other
support material)
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A STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

• Divided into six parts
• Record due dates for each part.
• Assess and evaluate each part
• FIRST Analyze qualities of good picture books
• SECOND Plan proposal for your own creation
• THIRD Write first draft of your story
• FOURTH Construct storyboard
• FIFTH Create final good copy
• SIXTH Present to a childrens audience

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Building a Collection

• Read and study many picture books
• Consider award-winning books
• Blue Spruce Award
• Caldecott
• Governor Generals Award
• First Choice
• Examine their characteristic and qualities
• What is great about these books?
• The wonder of the story?
• The beauty of the words?
• The power of the art?
• The enticement of the packaging?

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BLUE SPRUCE

• 2008 (winner determined by children - spring 2008
  from nominated list)
• 2007 Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt.
• 2006 The Boy who Loved Bananas by Andrej
  Krystoforski
• 2005 Drumheller Dinosaur Dance by Robert
  Heidbreder. Illus by Bill Slavin and Esperança
  Melo
• 2004 Stanley's Party. Linda Bailey. Illus by Bill
  Slavin
• 2003 Z is for Zamboni. Matt Napier. Illustrated
  by Melanie Rose.
• 2002 When Pigs Fly. Valerie Coulman and
  illustrated by Roge.
• RESOURCES / LINKS
• Blue Spruce Award Archive Annual Award Winners
  and Award Nominees
• BEST BETS, an annual list of Canadian literature
• Canada's major national literary awards
• Canadian Children's Literature Award-Winning
  Books

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Works Cited
Forte, Imogene and Sandra Schurr. Using
Favourite Picture Books to Stimulate
Discussion and Encourage Critical Thinking.
Nashville Incentive Publications,
1995. Kurstedt, Rosanne and Maria Koutras.
Teaching Writing With Picture Books as
Models. Toronto Scholastic, 2000. Kyriacou,
Chris. Essential Teaching Skills, 2nd Ed. United
Kingdom Nelson Thornes, 1998.OLA.
http//www.accessola.com/ola/bins/content_page.asp
. OSLA. http//www.accessola.com/osla/bins/index.a
sp. Polette, Nancy J. and Joan Ebbesmeyer.
Literature Lures Using Picture Books to
Motivate Middle School Readers. London
Teacher Ideas, 2002.
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Additional Resources Posted on OLAs Super
Conference Website 2008

• Analyzing and Creating Picture Books - .ppt
• Student Picture Book Assignment
• Picture Books to Shape for Telling - .ppt
• Selected Picture book bibliographies by topic

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Contact Us

• beth.mcewen_at_ugdsb.on.ca
• syavg_at_rogers.com

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• There is a no frigate like a book
• To take us lands away,
• Nor any coursers like a page
• Of prancing poetry.
• This traverse may the poorest take
• Without oppress of toll
• How frugal is the chariot
• That bears a human soul! Emily Dickinson