Eight Great Ways to Savor Picturebooks

Eight Great Ways to Savor Picturebooks

Children have a natural inclination to savor a picturebook.  They read and re-read favorite books, noticing different elements every time.  Both of us learned from the great Dr. Nancy Roser one summer in a University of Texas graduate class, “The Art of the Picturebook”, and we dived into the deep, rich waters of Lawrence Sipe to learn more about the peritext features of books cleverly written for children to savor. As we share a picturebook with our students, there are many ways to help children slow down and appreciate. Enjoy our Eight Great.

1. Is there a surprise under the cover?  We try to read the hardcover version of books whenever possible. Illustrators love to hide masterpieces underneath the dust jacket.  Before we even open the book, we unwrap it and check for a secret gift left by the illustrator.During a recent skype visit with the Fan Brothers, who wrote The Night Gardener, they mentioned the extra costs associated with adding the surprise under the jacket. This is probably why the surprises aren’t more common. Based on the response of our 2nd graders when they find one, the result is well worth the extra cost!
2. The Endpapers- I love this quote: “The artist and illustrator Will Hillenbrand likes to think of the endpapers (also called end pages) as the stage curtains for a play, which are the first thing the audience sees when it enters the theater, as well as the last thing seen when the play is over.”. (Sipe, 1998, p. 40). The endpapers provide a great way to lead the children into predicting mood, events, and themes.
3. How do the pictures add to the story? Have you read Klassen’s This is Not My Hat? This is a perfect example of the impact illustrations have on meaning. Try reading it to your class without showing the pictures. Allow them to experience the book a second time with the pictures and talk about how the pictures added value to meaning. When children learn to interact with both pictures and text, it changes the way they experience picturebooks. Their book talk changes because they now view the book as ornamental and see the moves authors and illustrators make as purposeful.
4. Medium- Michael, a sporty 2nd grader, was known for his skill on the basketball court. However, that is not how he saw himself. When we recently took our Nerdy Birdy (You have to read this book!) Picture, where each child dressed in a way that represented their true self, he dressed up as an artist. He is a brilliant sketch artist. Studying the medium choices illustrators make in picturebooks offered us another way to confer with our writers. Finding mentor texts to aid our illustrators as they, too, used pictures to amplify their text, armed our writers with tools to craft their own books.
5. Typography- Typography is so much more than font choice. Bold typed words, words taking shape to create action, dialogue assigned to characters by color and shape, and so much more add to the special effects typography can add to a story. Perhaps the most amazing example of typography use in a book belongs to The Night I Followed My Dog by Nina Laden. It is full of words taking shape like additional illustrations. Children love it, and it is sure to inspire some creative typography use in their own books!
6. Elements of Design- We love to use Molly Bang’s Picture This: How Pictures Work with our students. Through the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Bang, through her artwork, details how the elements of design in picturebooks tell a story on their own. Bang guides us all to learn more about how color, shape, whitespace, and line work to build emotion. Sharing this book with students elevated their book talk and added an analytical layer to the classroom.
7. Get to Know the Author/Illustrator Team- Children love to connect with the creators of the books they love. Studying their books help them find patterns in the body of work. This knowledge helps them try on various writing and illustrating styles as they develop their own skills. Building in Author and/or Illustrator Studies through book floods, video interviews, book trailers, skype visits, and visiting their websites all provide ways for young readers and writers to build their reading and writing identity.
8. Provide Time and Choice- Perhaps Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, says it best:

“Without spending increasingly longer periods of time reading, they won’t build endurance as readers, either. Students need time to read and time to be readers.”

-Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

Children need time to read and read and read. They need to be empowered with choice. Time and choice motivate readers to fall in love with books. Books have the power to transform lives, which is something we all need more of in our lives!

Eight Great Reasons to Team Teach

When Brennan went to work in the same school as Stacey, we began dabbling in team teaching.  We would team up for lessons and we found that even though the number of kids in the room doubled, they were more engaged in the learning.  We were more enthusiastic about our teaching.  When the classroom right next door to Stacey opened, Brennan packed up her stuff (for the millionth time) and moved down the hall so we could make this our full time gig.  We have never looked back.  Here are a few reasons why you might want to try it out:

1. Team teaching allows for different ideas and perspectives in the same classroom.  
2. You can share the workload with someone who works just as hard as you do.
3. Your classroom never misses a beat.  When one of you is sick, the work continues.  No need for sub plans!
4. You model a collaborative relationship for your students.
5. The students’ social, emotional, and academic needs can be discussed with another adult who has an equal knowledge and relationship.
6. It is easier to have flexible grouping with two teachers.  If you need to pull a small group for re-teach, one teacher can work with the whole group on a project while the other does differentiated work with the small group.
7. Assessment is enhanced.  There are two views of each student, so the depth of knowledge and insight into learning doubles.
8. The dynamic environment allows for more spontaneity.  If a teachable moment arises, you don’t have to wait until planning time to prep and then come back to it later.  You just divide and conquer in the moment!

Eight Great Ways to Add Sparkle to the End of the School Year

As the end of the year approaches, we see our students get summer in their sights and wiggles in their bottoms.  We start thinking about tying up all of the loose ends from this year and even begin thinking about the new and innovative things we will try next year.  Why not start right now?  April and May are a great time to try on new practices.  Why not beta test a few of those ideas you have rolling around?  We have a few ideas (big and small) we want to audition in our classroom right now as well as a few ideas we loved this year and thought you might want to share with your readers and writers before you have to let them go in June.

1. Forest Classroom

We are lucky to have some fabulous outdoor spaces at our school.  Last year we experimented with using this space in different ways.  We found things that worked and discovered routines and expectations we needed to establish in order to make our time out there more effective.  Then we heard this story on NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/26/407762253/out-of-the-classroom-and-into-the-woods.  Hearing about “Forest Monday” inspired us to have a “Forest Classroom” day this year.  Since we had already tried it on last year, we felt comfortable developing our plan to spend one day a week in the forest.  Here is a padlet our class created about their favorite learning spaces in our Forest Classroom: http://padlet.com/rosscruser/bx15z2psb6jr.

2. Share on a Chair

Our community of readers has always given book talks and made recommendations to each other based on their interests and preferences.  This year we wanted to spice it up a little, so we turned it into “Share on a Chair”.  The students still give book talks, but they stand on their chair and use the classroom microphone when they are sharing.  This one simple action has elevated (pun intended) the engagement and the enthusiasm around our conversations.  

3. Dialogue Journals

Journaling back and forth with your students can be an overwhelming undertaking.  If you are willing to take the leap, the impact it has on your relationship with them is immeasurable.  The last 6 weeks of school would be a great time to try this out without making a year-long commitment.  You could start actual journals and they could take those with them as writer’s notebooks for the summer.  If you want to try writing letters back and forth without introducing more materials, why not try writing a letter on something the students are already turning in?  Give your students 5-10 minutes after an assignment.  Have them flip the paper over and write a letter to you on the back.  You can include your reply when you return the assignment.

4. Sketchbooks

If you aren’t already studying illustrators in your classroom, START NOW!  Use picturebook illustrators as mentors for illustration style.  Students use their sketchbooks just like their writer’s notebooks. They can practice the craft moves of illustration and develop new characters and story ideas. Sketching is a great brain break during those April Showers!

5. Maker Space

We have been toying with the idea of having a maker space in our classroom next year, but the idea is a little overwhelming.  We plan to try a few maker projects before the end of the year so we can test out the routines and troubleshoot some of the classroom management involved.

6. Non-Fiction Reader’s Theater

Drama is a staple in our reading and writing workshop.  We regularly use reader’s theater and tableau to step in and out of the pages of our read alouds.  As we begin our life science unit we plan to use drama to become an animal in an ecosystem or an organism at various stages in a life cycle.  We also hope to use drama as a way to formatively assess the students.

7. SeeSaw

We have explored digital portfolios for the last two years, but haven’t found a “just right” fit for us.  We are really intrigued by Seesaw (http://web.seesaw.me/) and hope it might be just what we’ve been looking for.  Before we dive in head first next year, we want to get our feet wet with this year’s class.  If we can try it on for a couple of months, we can reflect over the summer about what went well and what we might want to adjust.  This will also be a great way for our kids to share some of their end of the year projects.

8. “How to” Book for Next Year’s Class

We have always had our students write a letter to next year’s class.  We share these with the kids at the beginning of the year as a way to get the kids excited about everything we will do this year.  But what if we have the kids help us with building community and creating routines next year?  This year’s class can write “how to” books for next year’s class and we can use these to guide us through setting expectations next year.  The books could be general “How To” books for the whole school year, or students can write specific books for different routines and activities.  We can’t wait to read these.  Maybe we can even get them posted on Seesaw!

Enjoy these last few moments of the year.  Maximize the time you have left with your class, and don’t be afraid to try something new.  What a great time for risk-taking for the teacher and the students!