This unit is comprised of two parts. We will begin by asking students to look at images that do not have text in order to spark their imagination. Books or sections of books that are picture specific compel students to explain what they think is happening and why. It is important to let students know that any answer will be accepted as long as the student can tell why using evidence from the image. We will then move to text with images and investigate how the images aid the words and vice versa. My unit will aim to provide my students with the strategies that will help them use this knowledge to strengthen their reading and writing. I look forward to exploring the relation between what the students see and how those "pictures" are turned into writing. I eagerly anticipate finding a variety of formats and media that my students will use in order to improve their skills of critically analyzing and synthesizing information.
Classroom Activities
The following lesson plans introduce skills that may be new for students or that may be a review of a skill they have been taught previously. Using picture books is an engaging method to use with students and one that students tend to feel less intimidated by, and so they are willing to take risks. For each of these lessons, multiple days may be spent on the skill being worked on. Some skills may take more modeling or practice than others. Assessment should be given when students feel confident in using the strategy. Once a skill has been mastered, teacher may move on to next lesson plan.
Lesson Plan One
Objective: Students will use images in a picture book to foreshadow or predict what will happen in the story.
The teacher will ask what it means to predict that something is going to happen. Teacher will then introduce the term
foreshadowing
and make sure students understand the meaning. The teacher will model making a prediction or foreshadowing an event based on the front of a book. The teacher will then walk students through a book asking them to notice what is going on in the pictures and make predictions based on what they are noticing. For each prediction, students will need to show evidence of what led them to make such a prediction.
Assessment: Students will independently read a picture book and use the images and text to make predictions about what they think will happen. Students will be required to note evidence that led them to make predictions or foreshadow events.
Suggested books that may be used:
Ruby the Copycat
by Margaret Rathmann;
Owl Moon
by Jane Yolen;
The Lion and the Mouse
by Jerry Pinkney
Lesson Plan Two
Objective: Students will use images in a picture book to sequence events in the story.
The teacher will review what sequencing is and ask students to make a list of clue words that are used when we sequence events (first, next, then, after that, etc.). The teacher will model sequencing events with pictures. The teacher will then walk students through the pages of a simple book that have been copied and are out of order. Students will work together to put the pages in the correct order and tell the story. Students will need to use key words show the sequence of the events.
Assessment: Students will independently sequence a group of pages of a story and write the story using clue words. This skill is one which lends itself nicely to using wordless picture books with a good picture sequence.
Suggested books that may be used:
Caps for Sale
by Esphyr Slobodkina;
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
by Simms Taback;
The Mitten
by Jan Brett;
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
by Pam Adams
Lesson Plan Three
Objective: Students will use what they know (their schema) along with the images in a picture book to make inferences about what the author is implying but not actually saying in the story.
The teacher will introduce what it means to infer using everyday situations such as: if a boy walks in carrying a wet umbrella what inference can you make about the weather without even looking outside? Once the students understand what is meant by inferring, the teacher will model by thinking aloud how to look at a picture and use what we know to make an inference. The teacher will then walk students through a book, asking students to notice what is going on in the pictures and make an inference based on the pictures and what they know. For each inference, students will fill in a worksheet with three columns – one that lists what they see in the story, one that lists what they know, and the last column in which they make an inference based on what they see and know.
Assessment: Students will independently make inferences based on images in a picture book and fill out the worksheet showing their thinking about how or why they made the inference that they did.
Suggested books that may be used:
Fireflies
by Julie Brinckloe;
Tar Beach
by Faith Ringgold;
Two Bad Ants
by Chris Van Allsburg;
Tuesday
by David Weisner
Lesson Plan Four
Objective: Students will use images and text in a picture book to determine the theme of a story.
The teacher will review with students that the theme of a story many times is not explicit; the author gives clues and the reader must determine the theme based on the evidence given with those clues. The teacher will model finding clues with thinking aloud while reading a story and then taking those clues and determining the theme based on those clues. The teacher will then walk students through a book, asking students to find clues that will help to figure out the theme.
Assessment: Students will independently read a story and use clues to determine the theme of the story. The students will be required to back up their answer with evidence from what they noticed while reading the story and looking at the pictures.
Suggested books that may be used:
Brave Irene
by William Steig;
A Day's Work
by Eve Bunting;
Fables
by Arnold Lobel
Lesson Plan Five
Objective: Students will use images to create a narrative that corresponds to the pictures by using story elements and incorporating the skills of foreshadowing/predicting, sequencing, inferencing, and determining theme.
The teacher will remind the students of the work that has been done previously with picture books by reviewing foreshadowing/predicting, sequencing, inferencing, and determining theme. Using a picture book, students will view the images and create a story to go along with the pictures. Students will be expected to incorporate the skills worked on during the unit in order to create a narrative that is more complex than the ones that they have created previously. Remind students of the kinds of questions they should ask themselves. Teacher may model how to think out loud about the images by examining details that might add interest to the story.
Assessment: Students will submit a story that is creative and corresponds with the images in the picture book they are working with. Students will be required to include story elements such as characters, setting, plot, and problem/solution.
Suggested books that may be used:
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Chris Van Allsburg;
Flotsam
by David Wiesner
Extension Activities
In addition to using picture books, other media can also help students attain the desired skills of this unit. District-wide third-grade students in New Haven have the opportunity to embark on two field trips to the Yale Center for British Art where they work with docents viewing various pieces of art. To build upon the experience that students previously had, teachers could arrange field trips to the museum in fourth grade. These subsequent trips would allow students to further study artwork as a medium to increase students' skills of using the visual to aid comprehension. One angle a teacher may take is to focus on one particular point in history and choose a painting to go along with the time period. Any teacher interested in arranging a field trip need only contact the Yale Center for British Art and speak with the staff at the Education Department regarding your ideas and they will be happy to help.
Another extension activity that would be useful and engaging for students is the use of silent film. Disney and Pixar have released a number of short silent films. Two suggestions are Disney's
Paperman
and Pixar's
The Blue Umbrella.
Both of these short silent films tell a very clear story. Teachers can use these films to elicit discussion about how one knows what is happening when there is no dialogue or words. It would be interesting to have students watch the film and write down the story they see happening and then have them share that with a partner or group. Afterwards students could go back to the film and decide what happened at different parts in the film to make them determine that was the story taking place.
